THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
EDITED BY
T. E. PAGE, LITT.D.
E. CAPPS, ph.d., ll.d. W. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d.
JUVENAL AND PERSIUS
JUVENAL
AND
PERSIUS
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
G. G. RAMSAY, LL.D., Lirr.D.
LATE PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN TUB UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
LONDON : WILLIAM HEINEMANN
NEW YORK ; G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
MCMXXVIII
PA
First printed 1918
Reprinted, 1920, 1924, 1928
644C
/■u
19 2-0
edT
. c
PRINTED DT GREAT BRITAE*
PREFACE
It is a work of some hardihood to attempt the
translation into English prose of an author who is at
once a unique master of style, a splendid versifier,
the greatest satirist, and one of the greatest moralists,
of the world. Yet it is a task that has appealed to
scholars of every age, and has a special fascination
for one who is called upon hy the conditions of this
series to produce a version which shall be at once
literal and idiomatic.
In the case of a great writer like Juvenal, who
writes for all time, each generation seems to demand
a translation of its own, in accordance with the
changes in its own point of view and the shifting
usages of language ; and each translator desires to
bring out in his own way the special meaning which
the author has conveyed to him.
I have consulted all the better-known translations,
especially those of Mr. S. G. Owen, Mr. J. D. Lewis,
and Messrs. Strong and Leeper; and there are many
good idiomatic renderings of short phrases to be found
PREFACE
in Mr. J. D. Duff's excellent edition of Juvenal. But
my greatest obligation is to a collection of MS. papers
on Juvenal and Persius left to me many years ago by
my uncle, the late Professor William Ramsay of Glas-
gow University, whose prelections on Juvenal were
much appreciated. Among these I have found many
happy renderings written on the side of a text used
for class purposes ; and to the same source I owe much
of the matter of the Introduction, especially the whole
section on the history of the Roman Satura. I have
also derived much advantage from Professor Hous-
man's critical edition of Juvenal, and I have to thank
him for permission to make use of his paraphrase of
Sat. vi., 11. O l-O 30.1 In translating Persius I have
been under the greatest obligation to the well-known
version of Professor Conington.
As it is one of the principles of this series to print
the originals as a whole, Sals, ii., vi., and ix., so
often omitted by translators, are included with the
rest. They all contain fine passages, and some of
Juvenal's most powerful writing is to be found in
Sat. vi. The lines which have to be omitted or
toned down to meet modern taste are few in num-
ber, and it must in fairness be acknowledged that
although Juvenal's realism is at times extremely
* See note on vi. 365, p. 110.
vi
PREFACE
gross, it is always repulsive, never alluring or
prurient, in its tone.
I have found it advisable to add summaries to the
Satires both of Juvenal and Persius, so as to make
clear in every case the course of the argument.
Juvenal's rhetorical exuberance frequently carries
him away from his subject, and leads him into
irrelevancies ; while Persius, in his love for recondite
phrasing and rapid transitions, sometimes leaves the
reader embarrassed as to his main purpose. Juve-
nal's sixth Satire, to whose merits so little attention
has been paid in English editions, has been treated
somewhat more fully than the rest.
The text of both the Juvenal and the Persius is
based upon Biicheler's text of 1893, which, as Mr. Duff
points out, was the first to give a full and trustworthy
account of the readings of P (the Codex Pitkoeamts).
Any variation from that text is mentioned in the
notes, together with a statement of the authority on
which it has been adopted. Bucheler's edition was
re-edited in 1910, with but few changes, by Dr.
F. Leo. The most important of these changes is that
he now recognises as genuine the passage discovered
in 1899 by Mr. E. O. Winstedt in the Bodleian MS.
G. G. RAMSAY.
March 1, 1918.
vii
CONTENTS
VAOB
PREFACE v
INTRODUCTION
LIFE OF JUVENAL XI
LIFE OF PERSIUS xxl
THE SUPPOSED OBSCURITY OF PERSIUS XXX
PERSIUS AND JUVENAL COMPARED XXxiii
THE 8ATURA OF ROME XXXvii
LUCILIAN SATIRE xhii
juvenal's satires summarised xlviii
MSS. OF JUVENAL lxxiii
MSS. OF PERSIUS lxxvii
MSS. OF JUVENAL AS GIVEN IN PROFESSOR
housman's edition, 1905 lxxxi
MSS. OF PERSIUS AS GIVEN IN BUECHELER'S
FOURTH EDITION REVISED BY F. LEO, 1910 . lxxxii
THE SATIRES OF JUVENAL
SATIRE I 2
SATIRE II 16
SATIRE III « ' 30
ix
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE SATIRES OF JUVENAL {continued) —
SATIRE IV 56
SATIRE V "8
SATIRE VI ^2
SATIRE VII 1^6
SATIRE VIII 158
SATIRE IX ISO
SATIRE X 19-
SATIRE XI 220
SATIRE XII 236
SATIRE XIII 246
SATIRE XIV 264
SATIRE XV 288
SATIRE XVI 302
THE SATIRES OF PERSIUS —
PROLOGUE 310
SATIRE I 312
SATIRE II - • 333
SATIRE III 342
SATIRE IV 357
SATIRE V 365
SATIRE VI 390
INDEX TO JUVENAL 405
INDEX TO PERSIUS 414
INTRODUCTION
The Life of Juvenal
The only certain evidence as to the facts of
Juvenal's life is to be found in casual allusions in
his own Satires ; such external authorities as there
are possess only an uncertain value, and do not
even give us the dates of his birth and death. The
following passages give us what certain landmarks
we possess : —
(1) Sat. iv. 153 refers to the murder of the
Emperor Domitian, which took place upon the
18th of September, a.d. 96. Sat. ii. 29-33 contains
a gross attack upon Domitian.
(2) Sat. i. 49, 50 mentions the recent condemna-
tion of Marius Priscus for extortion in the province
of Africa. That trial, made famous by the fact that
the younger Pliny was the chief prosecutor, took
place in January, a.d. 100.
(3) The allusion to a comet and an earthquake in
connection with Armenian and Parthian affairs in
Sat. vi. 407 has been held, with some probability, to
refer to events in the year 115.
(4) Sat. vii. begins with a prophecy that bright
days are in store for literature, since it has now
xi
INTRODUCTION
been assured of the patronage of Caesar. The
probability is that the Caesar thus referred to is
Hadrian, who succeeded Trajan in the year a.d. 117.
The attempts to prove that Trajan was the emperor
intended have not been successful. Trajan was by
no means a literary emperor, whereas Hadrian was
himself a poet and surrounded himself with literary
and ai-tistic persons of various kinds.
(5) In Sat. xiii. 17 Juvenal describes Calvinus, the
friend to whom the Satire is addressed, as one
qui tarn post terga reliquit
Sexaginta annos Fonteio consule natus.
There were consuls of the name of Fonteius Capito
in three different years, a.d. 12, 59, and 67. The
first date is obviously too early ; the year referred to
is probably a.d. 67, since in that year, and not in
the other two, the name of Fonteius stands first
in the Fasti. This would fix Sat. xiii. to the year
A.D. 127.
(6) Lastly, in Sat. xv. 27 : —
Nos miranda quidem sed nuper consule lunco
Gesta super calidae referemus moenia Copti,
the reading lunco, now satisfactorily established for
[unto, refers to Aemilius luncus, who was consul in
the year 127. Sat. xv. must therefore have been
written in the year a.d. 127, or shortly after it (imper).
It will be noted that these dates, supported by
various other considerations, suggest that the Satires
xii
INTRODUCTION
are numbered in the order of their publication. This
view is confirmed by the fact recorded that the
Satires were originally published in five separate
books ; the first book consisting of Sat. i. to v.
inclusive, the second of Sat. vi., the third of Sat. vii.
to ix., the fourth of Sat. x. to xii. inclusive, and the
fifth of the remaining Satires. In the case of Sat. L,
however, it seems probable that this Satire, being in
the nature of a preface, was written after the rest of
Book i.
Such are the only certain indications as to date
which can be discovered in Juvenal's own words.
They suggest that the literary period of his life
(apart from his earlier recitations) was embraced
within the reigns of the emperors Trajan (a.d.
98-117) and Hadrian (a.d. 117-138), probably not
extending to the end of the hitter's reign. And
as in Sat. xi. 203 he seems to speak of himself as
an old man, we may perhaps, with some certainty,
put his birth between the yeai-s a.d. 60 and 70.
Other indications of a personal kind are few and
insignificant. When Umbricius, on leaving Rome,
bids good-bye to his old friend Juvenal, he speaks
of the chance of seeing him from time to time when
he comes, for the sake of his health, " to his own
Aquinum " ; from which we may fairly infer that the
Volscian town of Aquinum was the poet's native
place.
This inference is confirmed by an inscription
xiii
INTRODUCTION
on a marble stone, now lost, which was found at
Aquinum. The stone formed part of an altar to
Ceres ; and the inscription records the fact that the
altar had been dedicated to Ceres at his own cost
by one D. Junius Juvenalis, who is described as a
Tribune in a Dalmatian cohort, as a duumvir quin-
quennalis, and a jlamen of the deified emperor
Vespasian (Corp. Inscr. Lat. x. 5382). It should be
added that the praenomen of the donor (D.) was not
legible on the inscription, and that only the two first
letters of the nomen Junius could be deciphered.
It is not at all certain that this inscription refers
to the poet Juvenal. Apart from a very doubtful
statement in a Biography which has yet to be men-
tioned, there is no evidence that Juvenal ever served
in the army ; indeed, his comments on the army in
Sat. xvi., which express a contempt for soldiers very
similar in kind to that expressed by Persius, almost
forbid the supposition. His writings suggest that
he habitually lived in Rome, and make it improbable
that he could at any time of his life have lived long
enough in Aquinum to enable him to gain and fill
the important positions mentioned in the inscription.
The most we can infer is that he belonged to a
family of repute in his native town, and was himself
therefore fairly representative of the higher circles
of provincial life.
In Sat. xi. we find Juvenal in Rome, offering to
his friend Persicus a frugal banquet to which his
xiv
INTRODUCTION
Tiburtine farm was to contribute a fat kid, with
other farm produce, pears, grapes, and apples,
together with asparagus gathered in the intervals
of her spinning by his bailiff's wife.1
A passage in xv. 45 records the fact that Juvenal
had visited Egypt : —
luxuria, quantum ipse notavi,
Barbara famoso non cedit lurba Canopo;
— a positive statement which cannot be put aside
because in his fifteenth Satire the poet makes a
geographical mistake as to the proximity of Ombi to
Tentyra, nor yet made too much of in connection
with the statement in the Biography falsely at-
tributed to Suetonius, to the effect that Juvenal had
been sent into Egypt in his old age as a form of
banishment.
That Juvenal had received the best education of
his time and had been trained in the moral principles
of the Stoics is apparent from the whole tenour
of his teaching. The statement in xiii. 121-123
that he had not studied the doctrines of the Cynics,
Epicureans, or Stoics seems only to refer to the
more philosophical parts of those systems.
There are three passages in the poet Martial
(Epp. vii. xxiv. and xci. and Epp. xn. xviii.) in which
1 The idea that Juvenal possessed a paternal estate,
distinct from the farm at Tibur, seems to rest upon a
misconception of the meaning of vi. 57.
XV
JUV. A
INTRODUCTION
Juvenal is named — if we presume, as seems certain,
that the Satirist is the person there mentioned.
These epigrams show that the two poets lived
on terms of friendship and familiarity with one
another, but they throw no light upon Juvenal's
personal history and career. In the epigram vu. xci.
written in a.d. 93, Juvenal is styled facundus, an
epithet which implies that by that time Juvenal's
reputation, either as a declaimer or as an author, was
established ; while in xn. xviii. Martial contrasts his
own peaceful and happy life in a rural district of
Spain with the noisy, restless life led by Juvenal in
the Suburra. As Martial's twelfth book was written
and collected between the years 102 and 104, that
date would correspond pretty closely with that
estimated above for the beginning of Juvenal's
literary activity. As Mr. Duff puts it, "the facts go
to prove that Martial ceased to write about the time
that Juvenal began."
Amid the scanty external evidence as to the life
of Juvenal, it is necessary to pay some attention to
the statements made in the old Biographies which
are attached to many of the ancient manuscripts of
Juvenal. Early scholars were inclined to attribute
these Biographies, or at least the oldest of them,
from which the others were copied, either to
Suetonius, the author of the Lives of the first
Twelve Caesars, or to Valerius Probus, a distin-
guished grammarian of the second century. It is
xvi
INTRODUCTION
now generally admitted that there is no ground for
these attributions, and that in all probability the
earliest of them, from which the others were evi-
dently copied with some difference of detail, are
not older than the fourth century a.d. For all that,
they seem to represent, more or less, an ancient
tradition, and it is worth while considering how far
some of their statements seem probable in them-
selves, and fit in with our other sources of infor-
mation, or present improbabilities which cannot
be accepted.
The oldest and best form of the Biogi-aphy is as
follows : —
Vita D. Junii Juvenaus. — Iunius Iuvenalis, liber-
tini locuplelis incertum est fdius an alumnus, ad mediam
fere aetalem declamavit animi magis causa quam quod
se scholae. aid foro piaepararet. Deinde paucorum
versuum satyra non absurde composila in Paridem
pantomimum poelamque [eius] semenslribus mililiolis1
tumentem [hoc ?] genus scripturae industriose excoluit.
Et tamen din ne modico quidem auditorio quicquam
committers est ausus. Mox magna frequentia magnoque
successu bis ac ter audilus est, id ea quoque quae prima
fecerat inferciret novis scriplis :
1 The allusion is to honorary appointments to the military
tribunate (imaginariae militiae genus, Suet. Claud. 25), a
system instituted by -Claudius in order that the holder
might obtain equestrian rank. The word militiola means "a
trumpery period of military service."
xvi?
I 2
INTRODUCTION
quod nor- dant proceres, dabil histrio. Tu Camerinos
Et Bareas, tu nobilium magna atria curas ?
Praefeclos Pelopea facit, Philomela tribunos.
(vii. 90-92.)
Erat turn in deliciis aulae histrio mullique fautorum eius
coltidie provekebantur. Venit ergo luvenalis in sus-
picionem, quasi iempora figurate notasset, ac statim per
honorem militiae quamqua?n octogenarius urbe summotus
est missusque ad praefecturam cohortis in extrema parte
lendentis Aegypti. hi supplicii genus placuit, ut lem
alque ioculari delicto par esset. Verum intra brevissimum
tempus angore et taedio periit.
The first sentence of this Life contains no infor-
mation that we are not prepared to accept. Nothing
is more probahle than that Juvenal had long
practised himself in the art of declamation, and
only embarked on publication when his reputation
was established, and he felt confident of success.
His recitations would at first be delivered to select
coteries of congenial friends, in whose company he
would forge out and perfect his biting epigrams,
just as Tacitus is supposed to have done with
his famous senlentiae. It is quite probable, therefore,
that such a passage as that quoted from Sat. vii.
may originally have formed part of a private recita-
tion, and have afterwards been incorporated in the
more finished edition of the Satire when published.
But in explaining the rest of the Life the early
commentators were sadly at fault.
xviii
INTRODUCTION
The person satirised in the passage quoted in the
Life was a dancer of the name of Paris, who had
just been mentioned in connection with the poet
Statius. " A monstrous thing/' says Juvenal, "that
after charming the town with his beautiful voice,
Statius would have to starve if he did not sell to
Paris his unpublished Agave " : Esurit, intactam Paiidi
nisi vendit Agaven (vii. 87).
Now there were two famous dancers of the name
of Paris, to cither of whom the passage in Sat. vii.
might apply. The one nourished, and was put to
death, in the reign of Nero ; while the other met
a similar fate under Domitian. The early com-
mentators on the Biography took it for granted,
naturally enough, that the Paris mentioned in the
Biography was the same Paris that is mentioned by
Juvenal himself in Sat. vii. But the dates given
above for the life of Juvenal prove conclusively
that neither of the artists who bore the name of
Paris could possibly have brought about the banish-
ment of Juvenal in the manner stated. The later of
the two was put to death in the reign of Domitian ;
and it has been shown above that the period of
Juvenal's literary activity did not begin, and that
Sat. vii. was not published, till some years after the
death of that Emperor. All attempts to bring the
banishment within the period of Domitian 's reign
have broken down.
But though the story of Juvenal's banishment as
xix
INTRODUCTION
usually told cannot possibly be true, it has been in-
geniously suggested that the words of the Biography
may be read in such away as to give it some measure
of probability. Having stated that Juvenal had
scored a success by his Satire against Paris — a Satire
evidently declaimed among private friends — we are
told that he was subsequently encouraged to insert the
passage among his published works. The biography
then goes on : Erat turn in deliciis aulae histrio, mul-
tique fautoram eius cottidie provehebantur. Venit ergo
Iuvenalis in suspicionem quasi tempora Jigurate notasset.
Filled with resentment at this attack, the histrio
prevailed upon the emperor to send Juvenal into
exile in Egypt under pretence of a military com-
mand, where he died shortly after of a broken heart.
Now we are not obliged to translate the words
erat turn in deliciis aulae histrio by " The actor [i.e.
Paris] was at that time a favourite of the Court."
The words indeed would more naturally mean
" There was at that time an actor who was a favourite
at Court," who resented the attack upon a member
of his own profession as an indirect attack upon
himself. The words which follow show that the
offence did not consist of the personal attack on
Paris, but that the attack on Paris was considered to
contain a sidelong indirect attack (quasi Jigurate
?wtassci) upon some other actor. Such an incident
is not at all likely to have happened in the reign of
either Nerva or Trajan, but it may well have occurred
xx
INTRODUCTION
under Hadrian, who became emperor in a.d. 119.
Hadrian himself was a patron of actors and artistes
of every kind, and he was quite a person who might
have taken offence at a supposed insult offered to
one of his favourites. The words of Sidonius Apol-
linaris, in the sixth century, who says of Juvenal
irati fuit histrionis exul, show how steadily the
tradition of the banishment had maintained itself.
There is a certain convergence of dates in Juvenal's
life towards the year 119; and though the above
explanation can only be looked upon as a conjecture,
it presents a story which may not impossibly be
true, while the traditional version of the story is
demonstrably false.
Life of Persius
We know from che Eusebian chronicle that the
poet A. Persius Flaccus was born in the year a.d. 34,
somewhat more than two years before the death
of the Emperor Tiberius, and that he died in the
year 62. He thus lived through the reigns of Caius
and Claudius and the first eight years of Nero. For
other information as to his life and circumstances
our sole source of information is an ancient Biography
prefixed to many of the manuscripts of Persius.
This Biography many scholars attributed to Suetonius,
the biographer of the first twelve Caesars, on the
ground that the lexicographer Suidas says that
xxr
INTRODUCTION
that author wrote a book De Poetis, of which the
ancient biographies of Terence and Horace are
supposed to have formed a part. In the oldest
MSS., however, the Biography of Persius is described
as having been taken from a commentary of Probus
Valerius, so that we may with some probability
attribute this Biography either to the famous gram-
marian of that name, who lived in the reign of Nero,
or to one or other of the grammarians who bore the
same name. Such as it is, this authority is the best
that we possess ; and as it is evidently of ancient
origin, and deals with simple facts with regard to
which there could be no motive for falsification, we
may with some confidence accept its statements as
authentic.
We are told that the poet was born at Volaten-ae
on the 4th of December, a.d. 34, and that he died of
an affection of the stomach on the 24th of November,
a.d. 62. He was a Roman Eques, of good position, and
became heir to a considerable fortune. His father died
when he was only six years old; and though his mother
married again, becoming a widow for the second
time, she attended carefully to his education, first at
Volaterrae, and then removing him in his twelfth year
to Rome. There he went through the usual course
of instruction for youths in his position, attending
the lectures, first of the distinguished grammarian
Remmius Palaemon, and afterwards those of the
rhetorician Virginius Flavus. At the age of sixteen
xxii
INTRODUCTION
he was put under the charge of the Stoic philosopher
L. Annaeus Cornutus, who became his guide, philo-
sopher, and friend, and towards whom, in one of the
most charming passages in his Satires, he pours forth
his feelings in terms of the liveliest gratitude and
affection (Sat. v. 30-51).
Though living in a small domestic circle, in terms
of closest intimacy with his mother, his sister, and
his aunt, he seems to have been admitted to the best
literary society of the time, and especially of persons
connected with the Stoic School. One of his
earliest friends was the lyric poet Caesius Bassus ;
he was intimate with the famous Paetus Thrasea,
whose wife, the heroic Arria, was a kinswoman of
his own ; he enjoyed the friendship of Lucan, who
was a great admirer of his works, declaring haec vera
poemata esse. He was also acquainted with Seneca,
though, as might be expected, he is said not to have
admired his character. He left his library, including
his own Satires, with a sum of money, to Cornutus,
who accepted the library and, after making a few
corrections, handed over the editing of the Satires to
his friend Caesius Bassus. We are told that he
wrote slowly, as might easily be discovered from the
style of the Satires themselves. He was of a pleasing
appearance, had the most gentle manners, was pure
and temperate in his life, and exemplary in his
domestic relations. The Biography ends with some
dubious assertions, probably added by a later hand,
xxiii
INTRODUCTION
among which is the baseless idea which possessed
his early commentators, that the main object of the
First Satire was to ridicule the poetical productions
of the Emperor Nero.
That Persius was born at Volaterrae in Etruria
rests on the authority of the Biography, as also of the
Eusebian chronicle ; yet learned commentaries have
been written to wrest the words of Sat. vi. 6-7 from
their natural meaning in the endeavour to prove
that the poet was born at the town of Luna on the
Gulf of Spezzia, on the Genoese coast, near the
famous marble quarries of Carrara. Having migrated
to that delicious spot for the winter, Persius writes :
mihi nunc Ligus ora
Intcpet, hibematque meum mare.
But the words meum mare cannot be made to bear
the meaning of a native shore ; and, even if they
did, the phrase might well be used of the sea that
beats on the shores of Etruria, in which province the
poet was born.
The period of the early years of Persius marks
in a peculiar manner the change which had taken
place in the general system of education as formerly
pursued at Rome with a view to the needs of actual
life. Tin's change was the direct result of the
dowDfall of the old constitution, and the substitution
of an all-pervading despotism for the free play of
public life which had characterised and ennobled
xxiv
INTRODUCTION
the fine days of the Republic. The change exer-
cised a most baneful influence on the minds and
tastes of the Roman people, and its blighting effects
soon became all too conspicuous in the rapid decline
of their literature.
It would be hard to imagine a system of education
more practical and more stimulating for the youth
of a great and free country, preparing itself for
the task of civilising and dominating the world,
than that which was pursued in Rome after the
roughness and ignorance of the Latin warrior had
been softened and enlightened by acquaintance
with the art and literature of Greece. The Dialogus
of Tacitus has left us a detailed account of that
system as followed by those who looked forward to
taking a part in the public life of the time. For
such young men some excellence in public speaking
was a matter of absolute necessity. Careful train-
ing at home would be followed by what we might
call a course of secondary education, embracing
Grammar, Rhetoric and Literature. To this would
be added a course of Philosophy, for which the
more eager spirits would repair to Athens, which
had now become the Universitjr of the world. His
preliminary education thus completed, the youth of
fuil age would be put under the patronage of some
leading statesman of the time. Taking his stand
beside his patron when receiving in his atrium the
visits of his friends, he would there hear discussions
XXV
INTRODUCTION
on all the current topics of the day. He would
accompany his patron to the Law Courts, watch
the cases that were being tried, and hear ex-
perienced comments upon them, as well as upon the
speeches that had been delivered. After this
initiation into public affairs, the young man would
have to serve his time in the army — a period of
20 years in the infantry, or 10 years in the cavalry,
seems to have been originally exacted — after which
he was fully qualified to enter upon public life on
his own account.
It is little to be wondered at that such a traininsr,
pursued in an atmosphere of political freedom,
should have achieved great results ; and we may say
with some confidence, leaving moral considerations
aside, that the number of great men who flourished
in Rome during the last century of the Republic —
the period during which the effects of the above
system made themselves felt — whether as warriors,
statesmen, orators, historians, or poets — scarcely finds
a parallel in the history of the world.
But when Augustus had succeeded in crushing
all his rivals, and establishing in place of a free
Republic a system of pure though carefully-veiled
autocracy, the results soon began to make them-
selves felt. Virgil and Horace, enamoured of the
charms of peace after the horrors of civil war,
and persuading themselves that Augustus was the
natural successor, representative, and restorer of all
xxvi
INTRODUCTION
that was best in ancient Rome, succeeded for a while
in investing the personal government of Augustus
with a poetic atmosphere which corresponded little
with its real nature. But they had no successors.
Reposing gladly under the paternal sway of Augustus
during his later years, Rome lost her ideals. She
was peaceful, prosperous, and contented ; the fiery
spirit of the old Republican days gradually died
away, and the majority of the citizens, finding that
servility was the surest road to advancement, " pre-
ferred the security of the present to the hazards of
the past." 1 The patronage accorded by Augustus
to men of letters may have done something to arrest
the decay of literature ; but with the close of the
reign of Augustus and the accession of Tiberius the
truth could no longer be concealed that the days
of liberty were ovei-, and the natural results followed
in every department of human life and thought.
Deprived of the inspiration of reality, literature and
oratory descended from the public to the private
stage, and lost alike their meaning and their manli-
ness. Pursuits which could only be followed with
danger soon ceased to be followed at all, and instead
of being trained by public men among public con-
cerns, the youth were now taught to exercise them-
selves in the schools of the rhetoricians, where they
learnt to carry on subtle disputations on topics wholly
remote from common life.
1 Tac. Ann. I. ii.
xxvii
INTRODUCTION
For the decline of literature, there is no more
authentic testimony than that of Persius ; and yet
he seems to be quite unconscious of the true causes
of that decline. His first Satire fills an important
gap in the history of Roman literature. It contains
an elaborate attack upon the poetry and the poeti-
cal methods of his own day, whose weaknesses he
connects, in true Stoic fashion, not with the loss of
public freedom, but with the decay of morality : —
Rome has lost, he tells us, all sense of what is good
or bad, what is manly or mawkish, in literature ; she
now loves the turgid and the grandiloquent; dandy
poets, after careful preparation, inflame the passions
of their audience with poems of a licentious cast.
Others, with similar affectations of dress and manner,
bring down the applause of the house with senti-
mental mythological ditties, and in their efforts for
smoothness lose all manliness of tone. Many buy
the coveted commendation by gifts of dainties or old
clothes. Others again affect archaisms, or revel in
bombastic mouthings which would make Virgil turn
in his grave. No orator can defend a client accused
of crime without using all the elaborate figures of
rhetoric ; all simple writing, all honest criticism have
disappeared ; " I at least must tell the truth, and I
must write down Rome as an ass ! " (Sat. i. 121.)
Such is the outspoken verdict of Persius on the
poetry and oratory in his day ; yet never for a
moment does he hint at its true cause ; never once
xxviii
INTRODUCTION
does he heave a sigh — even a despairing sigh like
that of Luean1 — over the loss of public liberty.
And yet he had two admirable opportunities for
suggesting the topic. The opening words of the
4th Satire (Rem popidi tractas?) suggest a political
discourse. " What are the qualifications," he asks,
" with which the budding statesman should provide
himself?" But the question is never answered;
the Satire turns out to be a purely abstract dis-
quisition on the subject of self-knowledge, dressed
up with a pretended application to the case of
Alcibiades.
Not less remarkable is the avoidance of all refer-
ence to public life in the 5th Satire. The main subject
of that poem is that of human freedom, being an
expansion of the doctrine of the Stoics that all
men (Stoics of course excepted) are slaves. Here, if
anywhere, was the opportunity for pointing, directly
or indirectly, to the state of political servitude into
which Rome had fallen. But no trace of such an
idea is to be found. From first to last the subject
is treated from the point of view of the schools, the
sole question raised being that of the command by
the individual of his own soul. Even when the poet
touches on the subject of Roman citizenship, it is to
dismiss with scoi*n the idea that it conferred any
kind of freedom worth having : —
1 plus est quam vita talusque Quod perit IPharsalia, vii.
640).
xxix
INTRODUCTION
Hen sleriles veri, quibus una Quirilem
Vertigo facil ! (v. 75.)
Not one word is there in Persius, from beginning
to end, that recognises the change that had passed
over public life in Rome, or of the results of that
change on the morals and intellects of the time.
The Supposed Obscurity of Persius
It has been the fashion to characterise Persius as
obscure, but the epithet is hardly deserved. He
is undoubtedly difficult; his mode of expressing
himself is often peculiar and fantastic. There is a
certain preciosity in his choice of phrases ; he is
sometimes crabbed and tortuous, and in his desire
for compression he occasionally, especially in his
many repetitions of Horatian ideas, seeks to obtain
extra force by blending two ideas into one without
giving full expression to either. He is often ellip-
tical ; his dialogue is abrupt and hard to follow.
He is certainly difficult as a whole, and his
style is one which needs to be wrestled with ; but
with a little careful attention the sequence of his
thought can always be discovered, and, though indi-
vidual passages may cause embarrassment, he cannot
as a whole be justly charged with obscurity. His
contemporaries did not find him obscure. The
Biography tells us that no sooner was the book
XXX
INTRODUCTION
published than it became the rage (editum librum
continuo mirari homines el diripere cocperunl). Martial
vouches for its popularity : —
Saepius in libro memoratur Persius uno
Quam levis in tota Marsus Amazonide.
iv. xxix. 7-8.
And the careful critic Quintilian, tells us :
Midtnm et verae gloriae, quatnuis uno libro, Persius
meruit (Inst. Or. x. i. 94).
If, then, the obscurity of Persius was unknown to
his contemporaries, we must look to some other
cause for its discovery; and this seems to be pro-
vided by what is evidently a spurious addition to
the Biography, to the effect that the first Satire of
Persius was intended as an attack upon Nero and
his poetical efforts. The original text of i. 121, we
are told, ran thus : —
Auricidas asini Mida rex habet ;
but alarmed by the boldness of these lines, which
seemed to point too plainly to Nero, Cornutus
emended the line, making it read (as in the now
received text)
Auricidas asini quis non habet ?
a reading which, as we have already seen, gives
point and meaning to the whole Satire.
xxxi
JUV.
INTRODUCTION
But the idea that Nero was the object of attack
in the 1st Satire could not be allowed to drop ; it
was soon developed by the commentators, and
became parent of the idea that Persius was obscure.
Supposed references to Nero were found to lurk
in every line of Sat. i. ; and it was even discovered
that Nero was also the covert object of attack in the
4th Satire — an idea which has not even yet departed
from the pages of some of our modern commen-
tators. The height of absurdity was reached by the
Scholiast who, when commenting on the four lines
ridiculed in Sat. i. 99-103, informs us verba Neronis
sunt ; to which a more recent annotator added that
the lines are taken from a tragedy, supposed to
be written by Nero, called the Bacchantes. No such
play has ever been heard of; no tragic play that
was ever written would contain passages in dactylic
hexameters ; yet we are actually asked to believe
that a critic like Cornutus, so anxious to score out a
harmless reference to King Midas for fear that Nero
might take it to himself, allowed four whole lines,
known by everybody to have formed part of a play
of Nero's, to stand uncorrected ! Thus the original
idea on which the charge of obscurity mainly rested
falls to the ground, and we may apply his own motto
to the interpreting of his difficulties — nee te quaesi-
veris extra.
XXXll
INTRODUCTION
Persius and Juvenal Compared
The great difference between Persius and Juvenal
is this, that Persius was a poet of the closet, a
student, a recluse, full of youthful enthusiasm, livino-
• 'to
m a retired atmosphere under the shelter of lovino-
female relatives, and with no knowledge of the
outside life of the world beyond what could be
gathered from the lectures of his Stoic instructors.
His world is not the living world of Rome, but the
world of books ; his incidents, his characters, are
chiefly taken from Horace, whose virile expressions
he delights to serve up in some novel and recondite
form, or from the stock examples of the Schools.
Juvenal, on the other hand, is a realist of the
realists ; he grapples with the real things of life,
and derives all his inspiration from the doings of the
men and women of his own day. He belonged to
the generation which had suffered from the enor-
mities of Caligula, Claudius and Nero ; he had pro-
bably himself witnessed the concluding and worst
phases of the reign of Nero, and had lived through
the whole of the gloomy tyranny of Domitian. He
thus knew what Rome was in the period of her
worst corruption. Impregnated with the moral
teaching of the Stoics, he was no mere repeater of
the commonplaces of the Schools. An ardent ad-
mirer of the simple and hardy virtues of ancient
Rome, he holds up a mirror to every part of the
xxxiii
c 2
INTRODUCTION
private life of the Rome of his day, and by the most
caustic and trenchant invective seeks to shame her
out of her vices. He was thus eminently fitted on
the ground of personal experience to describe the
manners of Imperial Rome at the period of her
worst corruption, and long practice had put in his
hands a weapon which enabled him to castigate
them with matchless power and severity.
Juvenal's pictures are doubtless exaggerated ; all
brilliant rhetoric is more or less overstrained, and
the peculiar doctrines of Stoicism naturally lent
themselves to paradox and exaggeration. But apart
from Stoicism, there are certain fundamental preju-
dices in Juvenal's mind which, though honestly
entertained, and natural in one who was always
looking back to the worthies of old Rome for
examples, are pressed upon us with a frequency
and an emphasis which seem excessive. His belief
in the virtue of primitive times ; his hatred of the
foreigner, especially one coming from Greece and
the East ; his tirades against wealth and the wealthy,
and his suggestion that wealth is always acquired by
unworthy means ; his laudation of mere poverty ;
his incapacity to see any object in trade except that
of self-enrichment, or any value at all in humble
or menial occupations, however useful to the com-
munity {Sat. iii. 71-2)— all these ideas belong to
what we may call the old Roman part of Juvenal's
prepossessions. They serve to account for the
xxxiv
INTRODUCTION
singular want of proportion which is to be observed
in some of his moral judgments, and they have to
be reckoned with in estimating the value of his
censures.
With these modifying elements in view, it has
often been asked, How far can we depend upon
the denunciations of Juvenal as presenting a faithful
picture of the Rome of his day? His sincerity
cannot be questioned. It is impossible, as we read
through his satires, not to feel that he speaks
what in his conscience he believes to be the truth,
and appraises everything and everybody in accord-
ance with the standard of morality which he has
accepted as his guide in life. His pictures of
Rome, and of life in Rome, are so vivid, so full of
characteristic detail, that they carry with them a
conviction of their fidelity ; while his shrewd know-
ledge of human nature, and the truly noble lines
on which he lays down some of the great principles
of human conduct — many of them in harmony with
the best ideas of modern times — make us feel a
general confidence in his moral judgments.
But we have more than internal evidence to rely
upon. The poet Martial, who was a contemporary
and friend of Juvenal, lived through the very period
from which Juvenal's sketches are taken. His
epigrams deal with the same topics of social life
which form the staple of Juvenal's satires. The
Rome of Martial is the Rome of Juvenal. He
xxxv
INTRODUCTION
describes, in the minutest detail, the same vices and
the same manner of living ; and the correspondence
between them acquires a double force from the fact
that the two authors looked at these same things
from a totally different angle. Juvenal was a
moralist ; he regarded the vices and follies of his
day as affording material for reprobation ; Martial
looked upon the same facts as affording material
for quips and epigrams. Juvenal hardly ever casts
off the attitude of a preacher ; Martial gives an
identical picture of Roman life without a touch ot
moral indignation.
But although we cannot but accept Juvenal's
account of the corruption of his day as true in the
main, it does not follow that it was true of all
Rome, and that there was no reverse side to the
picture. We know from Pliny, Seneca, and other
writers, that there were many quiet, thoughtful and
well-conducted homes in Rome, in which a high
level of morality was reached, which had no share
in the corruptions of the time, and were preparing
the ground for that period of philosophical reflec-
tion and moral regeneration which distinguished
the second century. We may, therefore, console
ourselves by the reflection that the castigations of
Juvenal, though justified on the whole, referred
mainly to what might be called the seamy side of
Roman life — a side to which some parallel may be
found in our own boasted centres of civilization.
xxx vi
INTRODUCTION
Juvenal was no politician ; he never casts an eye
on the political conditions of his day. He is as
blind as Persius to the effects on Roman life and
character of the loss of public freedom. Though
a passionate admirer of the Republican heroes ot
old Rome, he never expends a sigh upon the down-
fall of the Republic ; he has none of the belated
and despairing republicanism which inspires the
sonorous hexameters of Lucan. He does not hesi-
tate to dwell on the crimes and vices of individual
emperors ; but he accepts their rule as a matter of
course. He never connects the autocratic character
of the government with the degradation of the
Roman people which he deplores. He is essen-
tially the moralist of private life ; perhaps the only
distinctly political observation that can be discovered
in his satires is when he declares that Rome was
free in the daj's when she called Cicero the " Father
of his Country " :
Sed Roma parentem,
Roma palrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit.
(viii. 243-4.)
The Salura of Rome
The classical passage on Roman Satura is to be
found in Quintilian, Inst. Orat. X. i. 93-95 : —
Satura quidem tota nostra est, in qua primus i?isignem
laudem adeptus Lucilius quosdam ita deditos sibi adhuc
xxxvii
INTRODUCTION
habet amatores ut eum non eiusdem modo operis auctoribus
sed omnibus poetis praeferre non dubitent . . .
After comparing Lucilius with Horace, he pro-
ceeds to say : —
Multum et verae gloriae quamvis uno libro Persius
meruit. Sunt clari hodieque et qui olim nominabuntur.
Alterum Mud etiam prius saturae genus, sed non sola
carminum varietate mixtum, condidit Terenlius Varro,
vir Romanorum eruditissimus. Plurimos hie libros et
divitissimos composuit, perilissimus linguae Latinae et
omnis antiquilalis el rerum Graecarum noslraramque,
plus tamen scientiae collaturus quam eloquentiae.
To this we may add the testimony of the gram-
marian Diomedes (fourth-fifth century ), p. 483 : —
Satura dicitur carmen apttd Romanos, non apud
Graecos, maledicum et ad carpenda hominum vitia
archaeae comoediae charactere compositum, quale
scripserunt Lucilius et Horatius et Persius ; at olim
carmen quod e variis poematibus constabat satura
nominabatur , quale scripserunt Pacuvius et Ennius.
And again : —
Satura carmina multa simul et poemata comprehen-
duntur.
Comparing the above passages we learn that there
were several kinds of composition known by the
name of Satura : —
(1) The Satire of Lucilius, Horace, and Juvenal ;
xxxviii
INTRODUCTION
(2) An earlier form of Satire founded by Terentiua
Varro, of which the characteristic feature was that
it was non sold carminum varietate mixtum; and
(3) The kind distinguished from the Varronian
kind by the preceding definition, and more particu-
larly described by Diomedes as having been used by
Pacuvius and Ennius, and defined as carmen quod e
varus poematibus constabat.
But even so we have not reached the earliest
form of Satura, which was of a dramatic kind. In
recounting the history of the importation of dra-
matic games from Etruria into Rome in consequence
of a pestilence in the year b.c. 364, Livy tells us
(vii. 2) how the ludiones imported from Etruria danced
Tuscan dances of a not ungraceful kind to the
music of the pipe, but without words or gestures ;
how the native youth imitated these performances,
adding to them the jocular bandying of verses
amongst each other with appropriate gesticulations ;
till at last, improving upon these early efforts, non,
sicid antea, Fescennino versu similcm incompositum
temere ac rudem alternis iaciebant ; sed impletas modis
saturas, descripto iam ad tibicinem cantu, motuque con-
gruenti peragebant. Hence the introduction of the
drama some years afterwards (b.c. 240) by Livius
Andronicus qui ab saturis ausus est primus argumento
fabulam serere, i.e. construct a play with a regular
plot.
We thus see that the name of Satura was origin-
xxxix
INTRODUCTION
ally given to a rough musical performance of a semi-
dramatic kind, being developed it would seem from
the rude banterings in extempore verse or otherwise
of the Italian youth, who were famed for the antiqua
et vernacula festivitas with which they used to pelt
each other in times of village festivals and rejoicings.1
Of the Satires of Pacuvius we know nothing,
except from the above-quoted passage from Dio-
medes; but of those of Ennius (b.c. 239-169) we
know enough to give us a good idea of what
they were. Porphyrion speaks of the fourth book
of his Satires, Donatus of a sixth, each Satire form-
ing a book in itself; and some few fragments of
them remain. One deals with astrologers and
interpreters of dreams, another with female license ;
and Quintilian tells us that one of his Satires took a
dramatic form : — id Voluptatem et Virtutem Prodicus, nl
Mortem et Vitam quas contendentes in satura tractat
Ennius {Inst. Orat. ix. ii. 36). Thus Ennian Satire
seems to have consisted of a variety of poetical
pieces, composed in various metres, on various topics
1 For these extempore rustic effusions, full of coarse and
pungent wit, see Virg. Geo. ii. 385-395, and Hor. Epp. i.
147-167. Having regard to the evidence afforded by these
passages, and by the passage from Livy quoted above, it is
not possible to accept the statement of Prof. H. Nettleship
that "Lucilius was the first writer who impressed upon the
Satura that character of invective which it to a great extent
preserved in the hands of Horace, Persius and Juvenal "
(Lectures and Essays, second series, 1895). On the contrary,
it would seem that personal abuse formed the essence of the
first beginnings of Satura.
xl
INTRODUCTION
drawn from daily life, occasionally employing dia-
logue, and written with a certain humour and
sprightliness of style.
The Satura of the learned Varro (b.c. 116-28), as
we have already seen, contained prose as well as
verse (non sola carminum varietate mixtion), and accord-
ing to the statement put into his mouth by Cicero
(Acad. 1. ii. 8) they were written in imitation of the
Greek philosopher Menippus : —
El tamen in illis veteribus nostris, quae Menippum
imilati, non interpretali, quadam hilaritate conspeximus,
multa admixta ex inlima philosophia, multa dicta dia-
lectice.
So too Aulus Gellius u. xviii. 10 : —
Alii quoque non pauci fuerunt qid post pkilosophi clari
exstiteruut. Ex quibus Me Menippus fuit cidus librum
M. Varro in Saluris imitatus est, quas alii Cynicas, ipse
appellat Menippeas.
Now Menippus was a Cynic philosopher of
Gadara (jl. circ. b.c. 60), who from the character
of his works was distinguished by the epithet
o-TTouSoyeXotos, i.e. " serio-comic," in consequence of
the humorous style in which he expressed himself,
one of his aims being to ridicule the folly and
trifling of the pseudo-philosophers of the day.1
1 We may compare this with the subject of Juvenal's
second Satire.
xli
INTRODUCTION
The slight fragments preserved of Menippus are
not enough to enable us to judge of his style ; but
from sundry notices of him in Lucian we may gather
that his Satires were written in prose,1 that they
frequently introduced dialogue, and that they em-
braced a large variety of topics, including especi-
ally the ridicule of false philosophers. Varro's
Satires gained the name of Menippea, as Cicero
informs us, from their general likeness to those
of Menippus in style and subject. Both emploved
dialogue, both discoursed on many subjects, and
both conveyed instruction in a humorous and playful
form.
Varro was the most voluminous of writers (77-oAu-
ypa^wraro?, Cic. Epp. ad All. xiii. 18) ; he himself
computed that he had written 490 books. Of these
it is obvious, from the number of times they are
quoted by writers down to the beginning of the fifth
century, that the Menippean Satires were the most
popular. There seem to have been no less than 150
of them, each in a separate book ; the grammarians
Aulus Gellius (a.d. 117-180) and Nonius Marcellus
(fourth century?) cite fragments of at least 82
of the Satires. The titles, of which many have been
1 Probus indeed (ad Virg. Ed. vi. 31) says that "Varro's
Satire was called after Menippus : quod is quoque omnigeno
carmine saturas suas expoliverat ; but among the many
passages in which Menippus is mentioned by those who
must have known his writings there is no hiut that he ever
wrote in verse.
xlii
INTRODUCTION
preserved, are enough to show the variety and
humorous character of their contents, which covered
many different subjects, social, philosophic, and
political. Among them are the following : YSpoKiW,
apparently an attack upon the Cynics, the " Pro-
hibitionists " of their day ; Tpixapavo?, " the three-
headed monster," perhaps an attack upon the
First Triumvirate ; Hepl e|aywy?/s, on suicide ; TvwOi
asavrov ; "Ovos \vpas, the ass who pretends to a taste
for music ; A is 77-aiSes ol yepovres ; Tithonus, on old
age; ToD irarpb<; to ttcuSiov (the subject of Juvenal's
fourteenth Satire) ; and Pransus paratus, which seems
to have suggested the lines of our modern poet,
Serenely full, the epicure may say
"Fate cannot harm me, I have dined to~day."
We now come to the last and greatest form of
Salura, which has stamped its name on the history
of literature and the world, the Satire of Lucilius
and Horace, of Persius and of Juvenal.
Lucilian Satire
C. Lucilius, proclaimed by Horace, Persius, and
Juvenal as the founder of Roman Satire, was born
at Suessa Aurunca, in Campania, in B.C. 148 ; he
died in B.C. 103. If not actually the inventor of
Roman satire, he was the first to mould it into that
form which subsequently acquired consistency and
xliii
INTRODUCTION
full development in the hands of his distinguished
successors. Juvenal has no hesitation in acknow-
ledging him as its father : —
Cur tamen hoc potius libeai decurrere campo
Per quern magnus equos Auruncae flexit alumnus ;
Sat. i. 19-20.
Horace says of him that he was the first to compose
poems in this style : —
Quid cum est Lucilius ausus
Pri?nus in hanc operis componere carmina morem,
Sat. ii. i. 63.
Like Quintilian, Horace proclaims Lucilius as a
writer in a style unknown to Greece : —
Graecis intacti carminis auctor {Sat. i. x. 66).
He was a man of good social position ; Horace
speaks of himself as " infra Lucili censum " (Sat. n.
i. 75). He served in the Numantine war, and
seems to have been on intimate terms with Scipio, and
the literary society which gathered round him. He
was a prolific writer, having written no less than
thirty books of Satires, each book probably con-
taining several pieces. The subjects treated were
of the most miscellaneous kind, embracing ques-
tions of religion, morals, politics, and literary
criticisms ; some of them even touched on ques-
tions of grammar, Living in the days of the
xliv
INTRODUCTION
free republic, he indulged in broad and coarse
personalities, attacking his enemies by name : —
secuit Lucilius urbem,
Te Lupe, te Muci, el genuinum fregit in Mis.
Pers. i. 114-15.
In this respect, Horace tells us, Lucilius took his
model from the writers of the old Attic comedy ;
but while commending his freedom and his wit,
Horace is severe upon his style, which he pro-
nounces rough, redundant, and inartistic. In the
general tone of his writings, and in the purity of his
aims, he seems to have represented on its best side
the literary and moral ideas of the Scipionic circle.
His poems have been described as open letters to
the public, embracing the whole life of a cultivated
man of the world in good position, ready to criticise
everything and everybody in politics, literature, and
social life.
With regard to the metre which he employed,
the great body of his poems, with some exceptions,
were written in dactylic hexameters ; and from that
time forward this became the recognised metre of
Roman satire.
And now for the bond which linked together
these various forms of composition under the
common name of Satura.
It was the practice among the ancients, in making
xlv
INTRODUCTION
the stated sacrifices to Ceres or Bacchus, or other
rural deities, to offer to each god a collection of the
vai'ious first-fruits of the earth, piled up upon a
large platter. The Greeks designated offerings of
this mixed kind by the name TrayKap-rria. or 7ray/cap7ros
Ovaia; while the Latins called a platter thus piled
up a Lanx Satura, or simply Satura, that word being
the feminine of the adjective satur (from root sat),
signifying repletion. The same word was used of
other things possessing the same quality : a Lex
passed per saturam was a law containing enactments
on various subjects which were all passed together
as a whole. Thus the term came to be used of any
miscellaneous collection, any medley or hotch-potch
consisting of many mixed ingredients.
(1) The first kind of entertainment to which the
word was applied was that described by Livy vii. 2,
consisting of rough dialogue set to music, {impletas
mod is saturas), with singing and dancing. The whole
might appropriately be called a Dramatic Miscellany
or Medley.
(2) Ennius and Pacuvius removed Satura from the
stage, and gave the name to a number of pieces
composed on a variety of subjects and in a variety
of metres. The whole, viewed as a collection,
might be called a Poetical Miscellany.
(3) Varro, taking as his model the dialogues of
Menippus, wrote a vast number of pieces on a
multitude of different subjects, some purely comic,
xlvi
INTRODUCTION
some on grave themes drawn from recondite
philosophy, but even these treated with a certain
liveliness of manner (conspersas hilaritate quadam),
and all thrown into the form of a dialogue, mostly
in prose, possibly with some admixture of verse,
and forming what may be called a serio-comic
Philosophic Miscellany.
(4) Finally comes the Satura Luciliana, the great
characteristic of which was the variety of subjects
dealt with. Of these, however, politics ceased to
be one after the time of Lucilius. If we admit the
limits marked out for himself by Juvenal in the
famous lines,
Quidquid agunl homines, votnm, timor, ira, voluptas,
Gaudia, discursns, nosiri farrago libelli est (i. 85-6),
we might define it as a Moral Miscellany. Unlike
previous forms of Satire, it eliminated prose and
restricted itself to one form of verse, the dactylic
hexameter. It devoted itself mainly to social and
moral topics, castigating the vices and follies of
mankind as depicted in their lives and occupations.
Almost any subject relating to man or society might
be dealt with in a Satura. Horace allowed himself
a very wide field, including critical disquisitions
and such anecdotes as might lead to humorous or
caustic comment; while Lucilius went further still,
entering even on the discussion of questions of
grammar and orthography. Having originated on
xlvii
JUV. d
INTRODUCTION
the stage, Satire retained to the last evident traces
of its dramatic origin. Varro's Satires consisted
largely of dialogue ; dialogue is constantly appearing
in Horace ; Juvenal is full of dramatic touches ;
while the proper unravelling of obscurely marked
dialogue forms one of the main difficulties in the
interpretation of Persius.
Juvenal's Satires Summarized
The contents of Juvenal's Satires may be sum-
marised as follows :
In his 1st Satire, which was probably written as a
Preface, either to the whole of the Satires, or to one
of the five separate books which made up the whole,
Juvenal again follows in the steps of Persius. Among
the reasons which impelled him to write satire he
puts first of all his disgust at the popular poetry
of the day, and at the recitations on hackneyed
mythological subjects to which he is compelled to
listen. He has heard enough of Theseus, Jason, and
Orestes ; he is bored by perpetual descriptions of the
grove of Mars, of the cave of Aeolus, and of the
exploits of Monychus. He prefers to deal with
realities ; he must describe the men of his own
time : —
Whatever passions have the soul possessed,
Whatever wild desires inflamed the breast,
xlviii
INTRODUCTION
Joy, Sorrow, Fear, Love, Hatred, Transport, Rage,
Shall form the motley subject of my page.
(Gifford's Version of i. 84, 85.)
Precisely similar is the disgust expressed by
Martial at the mawkish mythological poetry of his
day:—
Qui legis Oedipoden caliganlemque Thyesten,
Colchidas et Scyllas, quid nisi monstra legis ?
Quid te vana iuvant miserae ludibria cartae ?
Hoc lege, quod possit dicere vita, Meum est.
Non hie Centauros, non Gorgonas Harpyasque
Invenies : hominem pagina nostra sapit.
{Epp. x. iv. 1-2, 7-10.)
Juvenal and Martial may thus be said to have
developed a school of practical poetry. Just as
Socrates is said to have called down the attention
of men from the heavens to the earth, so did Juvenal
and Martial call men from the barren repetition of
mythological tales and fancies, and the no less barren
field of rhetorical declamation, to describing the life
of men as lived in their own time and city.
Juvenal ends his 1st Satire with the announce-
ment that he is not to follow the example of Lucilius
in attacking his contemporaries ; his shafts are to be
directed, not against the living, but against the dead.
This is not to be taken merely as a sign of caution
on Juvenal's part, as though he were afraid of rousing
resentments like those aroused by Lucilius, but is
xlix
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INTRODUCTION
rather an indication that his main purpose is to
expose the vices and follies of the day, not to attack
the individuals who had committed them. He is to
be a preacher of morality, not a chastiser of persons.
And this promise is to a large extent made good.
Juvenal makes no effort to describe or ridicule
individual characters, nor did he possess the special
talent for the purpose. His subject, no doubt, requires
him frequently to quote names ; but such names are
usually given merely as typical of some special kind
of failing. They are taken either from books, or
from persons who had in some way or other made
themselves notorious ; some of them may have been
invented for the occasion. In no case do we recognise
any special feeling of animosity against the person
named ; nowhere can we discover any trace of that
personal vindictiveness which sharpens the point,
and impairs the truthfulness, of so much of our
most famous modern satire. And Juvenal's most
exaggerated invectives are relieved by the feeling
that they are the sincere outpourings of that saeva
indignatio which has so often been coupled with his
name.
In his 2nd Satire Juvenal attacks false philo-
sophers— men who, while exhibiting in public the
stern looks and uncouth manners of Stoics, practise
the worst vices in secret. It is characteristic of
Juvenal that he quotes as instances of the worst
1
INTRODUCTION
depravity the fact that a Roman noble wore clothes
of almost transparent texture, and that the Emperor
Otho used cosmetics and carried with him a mirror
as part of his paraphernalia for war.
The 3rd Satire, from an artistic point of view, is
perhaps Juvenal's finest performance. It contains a
brilliant picture of the living Rome of his day, of its
sights and sounds, its physical dangers and annoy-
ances, its luxury and its meanness, its wearisome
social observances, and of the intolerable inequalities
which made it impossible for a poor man with any
self-respect to continue any longer to live in it.
In lines 18-20 we find a charming indication
of the poet's natural good taste when he exclaims
how much nearer to us would be the spirit of Egeria
" if her fountain were fringed by a margin of green
grass, and there were no marble ornament to outrage
the native tufa."
The 4th Satire is of a lighter kind ; it is in the
nature of a skit upon the solemn importance with
which an exacting emperor like Domitian might
invest the most frivolous act of obsequious flatterers.
A mullet of huge size is sent up as a present to the
emperor, who at once summons a meeting of his
cabinet council to consider how the fish is to be
treated.
The 5th Satire, in a tone of bitter irony, gives us
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INTRODUCTION
the most perfect picture we possess of the manner
in which a patron of the Imperial times might
discharge the old historical duty of entertaining his
clients. The picture is taken from the life ; and we
cannot doubt that Juvenal had experienced in his
own person the humiliations which he describes.
Nothing can be more revolting, nothing more repug-
nant to every idea of hospitality, than the manner in
which the host Virro entertains his guest, who as a
full reward for faithful daily service receives at length
the long-hoped-for invitation to dinner. He sits, or
rather reclines, at the same table, but on a lower
couch. He is subjected to every kind of indignity
at the hands both of the host and of his menial
attendants. For every course a different and inferior
dish is served to the client ; so also with the drink.
It is not that Virro grudges the expense of the
entertainment ; it is his deliberate object to insult
his client, and he rejoices in his humiliation.
The longest, the most elaborate, and the most
brilliant of Juvenal's Satires is the 6th, which puts
before us, in long procession, a Dream of Unlovely
Women.
What, Postumus ? Are you, in your sober senses,
going to take to yourself a wife ? Do you not know
that Chastity has fled this earth ? She may have
stayed with us in Saturn's time, and perhaps lingered
awhile under Jupiter before he grew his beard, in the
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INTRODUCTION
days when men still made their home in caves, and
when wives spread couches of leaves and beast-skins
on the mountain-side. But know you not that since
the Silver Age came in adultery has been all the
vogue? Are you actually thinking of making a
marriage contract and presenting an engagement
ring ? By what Fury are you possessed ? Have you
no halter by you? is there no high window from
which you can take a leap ? (1-37.)
And is Ursidius, once the most notorious of
gallants, preparing to obey the Julian law and to
rear an heir ? ready to forgo all the turtles and
mullets and other dainties which his childlessness
now brings him in ? Bleed the simpleton, ye doctors,
if he thinks he can find a virtuous wife ; if he finds
one, let him sacrifice a heifer with gilded horns
to Juno ! Why, nowadays a wife would sooner be
contented with one eye than with one husband !
(38-59.)
Can you, m all the tiers of the circus or the
theatre, find a single honest woman ? Women love
the stage ; if you marry a wife it will be to make a
father of some harpist or flute-player. Or perhaps,
like Eppia, the Senator's wife, she will run off to
Egypt with a gladiator, leaving home and husband
and sister, and brave all the perils of the deep.
Had her husband bidden her go on board a ship, she
would have deemed it an act of cruelty ; no woman
has boldness but for acts of shame ! (60-135.)
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INTRODUCTION
If a husband believes in his wife's virtue, it is
because of the dowry that she has brought him ; the
Cupid that inflamed him was in her money-bags !
If he love her for her beauty, she will lord it over
him as long as that lasts, and ruin him by her
extravagance ; once her charms are faded, he will
put her to the door. If, again, she be virtuous,
comely, rich, fertile, and high-born, what husband
can endure a woman who is all perfection, and is for
ever casting her high qualities in his teeth ? Away
with your high ancestry, Cornelia ! away with your
Hannibal, your Syphax, and your Carthage ! Re-
member the fate of Niobe ! (136-183.)
How nauseous is the female habit of using Greek
for every act and circumstance of life ! Women now
do everything, even their loves, in Greek. You
might forgive it in a girl ; but what can be more
revolting than to hear Greek terms of endearment
in the mouth of an old woman ? (184-199.)
If you marry without love, why marry at all ?
Why be at the expense of a marriage-feast and all
the other costs of matrimony ? If you are really
and truly in love with your wife, then bow your
head submissively to the yoke. She will take full
toll of you ; she will rejoice in stripping you bare ;
she will do all your buying and your selling for you ;
she will show your old friends to the door, and make
you leave legacies to her lovers. She will crucify
your slaves for little or no offence ; if you expos-
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INTRODUCTION
tulate, and plead for delay, she will tell you " It is
my will ; the thing must be done ! " In the end
she will leave you, and wear out her veil in other
bridals. What think you of one who ran through
eight husbands in five seasons ? (200-230.)
No hope of peace so long as your mother-in-law
is alive. She rejoices to see you fleeced ; she helps
her daughter in her intrigues, and teaches her to be
like herself.
Women are desperately litigious; never yet was
there a lawsuit which did not have a woman at the
bottom of it. If Manilia is not a defendant, she is a
plaintiff; she instructs her learned counsel how to
adjust his pleas. (231-245.)
Then there is the athletic woman, with her
wrappers and her ointments, her belts, greaves, and
gauntlets; puffing and blowing all the time, she
belabours a stump with wooden sword or shield ; and
though her skin is so delicate that she must needs
wear garments of silk, she goes through all the
exercises, all the attitudes and postures, of the gym-
nasium. What gladiator's wife would stoop to do
the like ? (246-267.)
The connubial couch is ever full of bickerings and
reproaches : no sleep to be got there ! It is there that
the wife assails her husband with the fury of a tigress
that has lost her whelps ; she rakes up every imaginary
grievance against him, and has always floods of tears
at her command; he, poor fool, imagines they are
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INTRODUCTION
tears of love. If she herself be caught in a delin-
quency, she brazens it out : " We agreed/' says she,
"that you should go your way and I mine." (268-
285.)
Whence came all these monstrosities among us ?
When Latian homes were poor and humble, when
hands were hard with toil, when Hannibal was
thundering at our gates, our homes were pure ;
Roman virtue perished along with Roman poverty.
Long peace and enervating riches have been our ruin,
pouring all the corruptions of Rhodes, Miletus, and
Tarentum into our city. Little wonder that Ave have
deserted the simple rites of Numa and adopted the
foul practices of the Good Goddess ! (286-351.)
Ogulnia wishes to make a show at the games ■
she hires a gown, a litter and followers, with a maid
to run her messages ; she presents to some smooth-
skinned athlete the last remnants of the family
plate. Such women never think what their pleasures
cost them ; men sometimes have an eye to economy,
women never. (352-365.)
If your wife have a taste for music, she will aban-
don herself to the musicians ; her bejewelled fingers
will for ever be strumming on their instruments;
she offei-s wine and meal to Janus and to Vesta that
her Pollio may win a crown of oak-leaves. You Gods
must have much time upon your hands if you can
listen to prayers like these ! (379-397.)
Better that, however, than that your wife should
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INTRODUCTION
be a busybody, running about the town and discuss-
ing the news with generals, and in her husband's
presence, unabashed ; she knows everything that is
taking place in every corner of the globe ; she retails
every scandal of the town ; she picks up the latest
rumours at the city gates ; she knows what countries
are being devastated by floods, what disasters comets
are boding to the kings of Parthia and Armenia, and
repeats her tales to every man and woman in the
street. (398-412.)
More terrible still is the termagant, who loves
to lash her poor neighbours ; when a dog disturbs
her slumbers, she orders the owner to be thrashed
first, and then the dog. She enters the baths noisily
by night, works at the dumbbells till she is wearied,
and then submits herself to the bathman for massage.
Meanwhile her famished guests have been wearying
for their dinner ; when at last she arrives, she slakes
her thirst with bumpers of Falernian, which soon
find their way back on to the floor. (413-433.)
No less of a nuisance is your learned lady, who
discourses on poetry, and pits Homer and Virgil
against each other. She outbawls all the rhetori-
cians with her din ; she could unaided bring succour
to the labouring moon. She lays down definitions
like a philosopher ; she should tuck up her skirts
half-leg high, sacrifice a pig to Silvanus, and take
a penny bath ! 1 She knows all history, quotes
i i.e. take a public bath along with the men.
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INTRODUCTION
poets that I never heard of; she has every trick of
speech at her fingers' ends, and will pull you up for
the smallest slip in grammar. Take no such wife to
your bosom ! (434-456.)
Still more unbearable is the wealthy wife, who
thinks that everything is permitted to her. Her
neck, her ears, are resplendent with precious stones ;
she plasters her face with bread-poultices and
Poppaean pastes which stick to her husband's lips
when he gives her a kiss. She never cares to look
well at home ; it is for lovers only that a clean skin
and Indian perfumes are reserved. In due time she
washes off the layers with asses' milk, and the face
can be recognised as a face instead of as a. sore '
(457-473.)
If the husband has been neglectful, the maids
will suffer for it ; the slightest fault will bring down
a thrashing on them with whip or cane ; some women
engage their floggers by the year. The lady mean-
while is making up her face, or chatting with her
friends, or examining a piece of embroidery, or
reading the Gazette : not less cruel than Phalaris,
she keeps her flogger at it all the time. If in a
hurry to keep an assignation, she wreaks her ven-
geance on her tirewoman with a thong of bull's hide
for every curl out of place, while the second maid
builds up the lofty erection on her head : so serious is
the art of beautification ! so complicated the artistic
structure ! Not a thought for the husband all this
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INTRODUCTION
time ; he is only a little nearer to her than a next-
door neighbour ; she heeds not what she costs him.
(474-511.)
Another is the prey of every superstition. In
come the noisy crew of the frantic Bellona and
the Good Goddess, clanging their cymbals ; they
pay reverence to the huge emasculated priest ; to
avert his prophecies of evil, she presents him with
a hundred eggs, and some cast-off clothing : these
carry off the threatened peril and purify her for
the entire year. In winter-time she breaks the ice
for a plunge into the Tiber, and then crawls with
bleeding knees over the Campus Martius. At Io's
bidding — for she believes that the Goddess herself
holds commune with her — she would go on a
pilgrimage to Egypt to bring water from Lake
Meroe with which to besprinkle the shrine of Isis.
She pays reverence to the dog-headed Anubis, with
his close-cropped and linen-clad followers ; a fat
goose and a thin cake will obtain absolution for all
her peccadilloes from Osiris. (511-541.)
Next comes a Jewish hag, leaving her basket
and her hay, who whispers secrets into her ear,
expounding the holy laws of her tribe : she inter-
prets or invents dreams for the smallest of coins.
An Armenian or Syrian soothsayer, manipulating a
pigeon's liver, promises her a youthful lover, or the
inheritance of some rich and childless man. He
probes the entrails of a dog, sometimes even of a
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INTRODUCTION
boy, committing a crime that he may himself turn
informer. But most trusted of all is the Chaldaean,
whose words come direct from the fount of Hammon
— more especially if he have done something to
deserve exile and narrowly escaped death. Your
virtuous Tanaquil consults him about the too long
delayed death of her mother or her uncle — having
first enquired about your own death. Such a one
knows nothing about the stars ; but beware of the
woman in whose hand you see a well-thumbed
almanack, and who claims to be an expert ; she
is herself consulted, and regulates her whole life
after the dictates of the occult science. Rich
women consult a Phrygian or an Indian augur ; the
poor woman looks for a diviner in the Circus, of
whom she enquires whether she shall marry the
tavern-keeper or the old-clothesman. (542-591.)
Poor women will bear the pangs of childbirth ; but
you will rarely find a woman lying-in who sleeps in
a gilded bed. So potent are the draughts of the
abortionist ! Hand the potion to her yourself, my man,
and rejoice in the murder of your unborn children :
you might otherwise find yourself the father of a
blackamoor. If an heir be wanted for some great
house, roguish Fortune knows where to look for one :
she takes her stand by night at the foundling pool,
dandles a chance infant in her arms, and spirits it
away into some lordly house to become a Pontifex
or a Priest of Mars ! (592-609.)
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INTRODUCTION
Instructed by Thessalian witches, a wife will
make her husband imbecile or raving mad with a
magical love philtre: just as Caesonia's1 potion
robbed Nero's uncle of his senses. More guilty she
than Agrippina : for Agrippina did but " send down
to heaven " a slobbering dotard, whereas Caesonia's
medicament slew knights and senators together, and
turned the whole world upside down with fire and
the sword. (610-626.)
To kill a stepson is now thought quite in order ;
beware, ye wards, if ye have wealth : keep an eye
upon your stepmother's cakes, and 'let her cup be
tasted before you put it to your lips. Do you sup-
pose that I am telling mere idle tales, breathing
forth mouthings like a tragedian ? Would to heaven
it were so ! but just look at the case of Portia, who
was caught in the act : " I did it," she confessed ;
" with my own hands. I gave aconite to my boys."
" What, you viper ? you slew two of them at one
meal ? " " Ay ; and seven too had there been seven
to slay ! " (627-642.)
Tragedy, indeed, tells us of the crimes of Procne
and the Colchian ; I seek not to deny them. But
they sinned in wrath, not for filthy lucre's sake :
what I cannot abide is the calculated crime, com-
mitted calmly in cold blood. Women flock to see
Alcestis dying for her husband ; but your modern
1 Caesonia was Caligula's wife. Agrippina was supposed
to have poisoned her uncle-husband Claudius, and so won for
him divinity.
Ixi
INTRODUCTION
woman would let her husband go to Hades if she
could save her lapdog ! Daughters of Danaus 1 are
to be found in plenty among us ; every street in
Rome contains its Clytemnestra ; the only difference
is that she made use of a clumsy two-bladed axe,
while these women do the trick with the liver of a
toad — and pei-haps with a knife, if their lord have
fortified himself with antidotes ! (643-661.)
The 7th Satire promises a good time for letters
and learning from the expected patronage of the
new emperor, and is mainly taken up with bewailing
the miserable prospects of all the literary professions.
The good old days of patronage are gone ; the
wealthy pay no respect to letters, or assist them only
in ways that involve no cost to themselves ; the only
patronage worth having nowadays is the favour of a
popular play-actor. The poet, the historian, the
advocate, the rhetorician, the grammarian — all have
the same tale of neglect and poverty to tell, whereas
singers and jockeys are splendidly rewarded. The
teacher's profession, which is the noblest, and the
most deserving of respect, of all the professions,
fares worst of all ; there is no money that a father
grudges so much as that spent in the education of
his son.
The 8th Satire is an attack upon pride of birth.
Though there is no one who has more respect for the
1 i.e. wives who murder their husbands.
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INTRODUCTION
blood of the great old Roman houses than Juvenal
himself, he discourses eloquently on the theme
nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus. No man, no animal,
can be called high-born whose breeding is not pro-
claimed by the possession of high qualities. A man
must stand or fall by his own qualities, not by
those of his ancestors. Be a stout soldier, an honest
guardian, and an impartial arbiter ; prefer honour to
life ; if called to govern a province, be just and
tender-hearted to the provincials. If your wife be
blameless, and you have no corrupt favourite in your
suite, you may trace your lineage to the loftiest
source you please ; but if you are carried headlong
by ambition, lust and cruelty, the noble blood of
your ancestors rises up in judgment against you, and
throws a dazzling light upon your misdeeds. What
think you of the noble Lateranus, who drives his
own chariot along the public way unabashed, and
frequents low taverns, where he consorts with
thieves, coffin-makers, and cut-throats? And what
are we to say of a Damasippus or a Lentulus, who
hire out their voices to the stage ? — though, indeed,
who might not be a mime when an emperor has
turned lutist ? — and worse still, have we not seen
the noble Gracchus in the arena, not fighting with
helm and shield and sword, but with a trident and
a net in his hand ? See how he has missed his cast,
and lifts his face for all to see as he flies along the
arena ! Orestes, you say, was a parricide, like Nero ;
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INTRODUCTION
but Orestes slew no wife, no sister : he never sang
upon the stage, he never wrote an epic upon Troy !
And of all his crimes, which deserved greater punish-
ment than that ?
Whose blood could be nobler than that of Catiline
or Cethegus ? Yet they conspired to destroy the
city ; and it was the plebeian Cicero that preserved it.
The plebeian Marius saved her from the Cimbri and
the Teutones ; the plebeian Decii saved our legions
from the hosts of Latium ; and the best king of Rome
was a slave-girl's son.
The 9 th Satire deals with a disgusting offence, one of
the main sources of corruption in the ancient world.
The 10th Satire has been often called Juvenal's
masterpiece ; it has had the honour of being para-
phrased by Johnson in his " Vanity of Human
Wishes," and it has all the merits of a full-blown
rhetorical declamation. It has some magnificent
descriptions, especially that of the fall of the favourite
Sejanus. But it is a profoundly depressing and
pessimistic poem. Except in the last few lines,
there is not a word of hope or encouragement for
the ordinary human being ; no sense that any kind
of life can be worth living ; not one word of counter-
poise to the long, dismal catalogue of human failures;
no suggestion that in great lives which have ended
in disaster there may have been moments of noble
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INTRODUCTION
action, high endeavour and inspiration. The de-
scription of old age is revolting in its minuteness,
and it is not relieved by a single touch of sympathy
or kindliness. The text of the whole is
Quid tarn dextro pede concipis ut te
Conatus non paeniteat votique peracii ?
Our wishes, our prayers, are all equally vain. If
you lust for riches, think of the fate of a Lateranus,
a Seneca, or a Longinus ; even in days of primitive
simplicity, man's follies provoked the tears of Hera-
cleitus and the laughter of Democritus. Some men
are brought to ruin by their lust of place and
power, like Pompey, the Crassi, and Sejanus ; others,
like Cicero and Demosthenes, by the fatal gift of
eloquence. The glories of war end in misery and
disaster — look at the calamitous ends of Hannibal,
of Xerxes, and Alexander ! Men pray for long life ;
but old age does but bring with it a host of miseries
and infirmities, ending in the loss of reason. What
calamities had Nestor, Peleus, and Priam to go
through because of their length of days! What
disasters would have been escaped by Marius and
Pompey, what glory might not have been theirs,
had they died earlier !
The loving mother prays that her children may
have beauty ; but when did modesty and beauty go
together ? The fair maiden, the fair youth, live in
a world of peril and of snares. Hippolytus and
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juv. e 2
INTRODUCTION
Bellerophon warn us that even purity has its dangers;
and what was the end of the fair and high-born youth
who became a victim to the passion of Messalina ?
Better leave it to the Gods to determine what is
best for you and for your state ; man is dearer to
them than he is to himself. But if you must needs
pray for something, ask for things which you can
give yourself: ask for a stout heart that fears not
death ; ask for power to endure ; ask for a heart that
knows not anger and desire, and deems that all the
woes of Hercules are better than the soft cushions
of Sardanapalus. These things you can bestow on
yourself, and snap your fingers at the strokes of
Fortune !
The 11th Satire consists of two parts. It begins
with an account of the folly of gourmands of slender
means, who ruin themselves for the pleasures of the
table, forgetful of the golden rule yvwOi aeavrov, which
warns a man to know his tether, in finance as well as
in other things, and not buy a mullet when he has
only a gudgeon in his purse (1-55). This serves as
a prelude to the second part of the Satire, in which
the poet invites his friend Persicus to a genial but
simple feast, the delicacies of which are to be fur-
nished from the homely produce of his Tiburtine
farm — such a feast as was served on simple ware to
resale the consuls and dictators of the olden time.
There will be no rich plate no costly furniture, no
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INTRODUCTION
silver, no handles of ivory, no professional carver, no
Phrygian or Lycian Ganymede to hand you your cup.
Two simple country-clad lads will serve the table;
no wanton dancing girls will be provided for your
entertainment ; only Homer and Virgil will be
read. And our enjoyment will be all the greater
that we can hear the roars of the circus in the
distance, and hug ourselves in the delights of a rare
and peaceful holiday (56-208).
In his 1 2th Satire Juvenal celebrates the narrow
escape from shipwreck of his friend Catullus. A
terrible storm had compelled him to cut away the
mast and to throw overboard all the treasures of his
cargo. But at length the storm abates, and Catullus
with his crew arrive safe and sound in the new
Ostian harbour. Juvenal then offers a sacrifice of
thanksgiving for his friend's safety— no mercenary
offering this for a rich and childless friend, seeing
that Catullus has three little sons of his own. This
leads the poet to have his fling at the wiles of legacy-
hunters, some of whom would be ready to sacrifice a
hecatomb of elephants (if elephants were to be had),
or even to offer an Iphigenia of their own, in order
to secure a place in a rich man's will.
The elephant passage is singularly cumbrous and
out of place.
The 13th is the noblest of Juvenal's Satires. It
takes the form of a consolatory epistle to Calvinus,
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INTRODUCTION
who has been defrauded of a sum of ten thousand
sesterces by the dishonesty of the friend to whom it
had been entrusted. In offering him consolation,
the poet not only uses all the arguments of robust
common sense, but also in his concluding passages
he may be said to reach the high-water mark of
pre-Christian ethics : there is at least one notable
pronouncement which seems to breathe the very
spirit of the Gospel.
Every guilty deed brings its own punishment along
Avith it ; no guilty man can escape at the bar of
his own conscience. Your loss is one of every-day
occurrence ; has experience not taught you to bear
the smallest of misfortunes ? Crime of every kind
is rampant amongst us ; honest men are not more
numerous than the mouths of the Nile ; it is mere
simplicity to expect any man nowadays to abstain
from perjury. In the days of Saturn, before the
heavens were crowded with their present mob of
divinities : in the days when youth stood up to
reverence old age, dishonesty was a marvel to be
wondered at ; but in these days, if a man acknow-
ledges a trust, and restores the purse entrusted to
him, I deem him a prodigy. I liken him to a shower
of stones, or to a pregnant mule, or to a river running
white with milk. What if some other man have
lost ten times as much as you? So easy is it to
escape the notice of heaven if no man be privy to
the guilty deed ! Some men disbelieve in divine
lxviii
INTRODUCTION
wrath ; others believe in it, but will take the risk,
provided they can secure the cash : punishment
they argue, may perhaps never come after all !
Granted that loss of money is the greatest of human
calamities, what right have you to deem yourself
outside the common lot of man, as though hatched
from a white and lucky egg? Look at the list
of crimes daily brought before the Court and dare
to call yourself unfortunate ! Who wonders at a
swollen neck in the Alps, or at blue eyes and yellow
hair in a German ?
But is the perjured wretch to go unpunished?
you ask. Well, if the man's life were taken, that
would not bring back your money'; and when you
tell me that vengeance is sweeter than life itself,
I tell you that none think so but the ignorant, and
that of all pleasures vengeance is the meanest. You
may judge of it by this, that no one so delights in it
as a woman !
But why fancy that such men escape punishment
when conscience is for ever wielding its unseen
unheard lash over their guilty souls ? What punish-
ment of Caedicius or Rhadamanthus can be so terrible
as that of having to carry one's own accusing witness
by day and by night, within one's breast? Truly
spoke the Pythian oracle when it condemned the man
who returned a deposit, not for conscience' sake, but
from fear ; for the man who meditates a crime within
his heart has all the guiltiness of the deed. If he
Ixix
INTRODUCTION
accomplishes the deed, he is never free from anguish ;
the choicest viands, the finest wines, offend his taste ;
when his tossed limbs at length sink to rest, he has
visions of the temple and the altar by which he has
forsworn himself ; your image, larger than life, rises
up before him and compels him to confess. These
are the men who tremble at every lightning-flash ;
they believe that every rumbling in the sky, every
sickness they have, is a sign of the wrath of heaven
and betokens future punishment. And yet they will
not mend their ways ; what man was ever content
with a single sin ? So you may take comfort from
this: your enemy will sin once again, and more openly:
his fate will be ' the prison or the halter ; you will
rejoice in his punishment, and enjoy your vengeance
after all !
The theme of the 14th Satire is that parental
example is the most potent of educational instru-
ments. The father who gambles, or gormandises, or
cruelly abuses his slaves, is instructing his son in his
own vices ; the mother who has paramours teaches
her daughter to be unfaithful ; clothed with parental
authority, such examples cannot be resisted. Let
fathers therefore see to it that no foul sight be seen,
no foul word be heard, within their doors ; let them
respect their child's tender years, let their infant son
forbid the meditated sin.
When you expect a guest, your household are set
lxx
INTRODUCTION
to work to clean and scrub, that no foul spot maj
offend the stranger's eye : and will you not bestir
yourself that your son may see nothing but what is
pure and spotless within his home ? The stork, the
vulture, the eagle all follow in the ways pointed out
to them in the parental nest. Cretonius half ruined
himself by building ; his son completed the ruin by
building grander and more sumptuous mansions.
If the father keeps the Sabbath, the son will carry
his superstition further still ; he will flout the laws
of Rome, and observe the secret rites and practices
of Moses.
The one and only vice which the young practise
unwillingly is that of avarice, since it has a spurious
appearance of virtue. Hence fathers take double
pains, both by precept and example, to instil the
love of money into their sons ; they practise the
meanest economies that they may be wealthy when
they die. Our hardy ancestors, broken by wounds
and years, deemed themselves happy with a reward
of two acres, which to-day would not be thought big
enough for a garden. In the hurry to be rich no law
is regai-ded, no crime stops the way. Foreign purple
has banished the hardy contentment of the old
Marsian and Hernican heroes, and opened the door
to every villainy. When the father bids his son rise
at midnight to seek for gain, telling him that lucre
smells sweet whatever the source from which it
comes, he is instructing him to cheat, to cozen, and
lxxi
INTRODUCTION
to forswear himself; ay, and the disciple will soon
outstrip his teacher.
It is as good as a play to watch how men will
brave perils of storm and tempest to increase their
pile of cash ; not for mere livelihood, like the rope-
dancer, but just to store up little pieces of gold and
silver stamped with tiny images ! Such a man is fit
only for a mad-house ; one day the storm will engulf
his goods, and he will have to support himself by
a painted shipwreck.
To guard great riches is as burdensome a task as
to acquire them ; better be lodged like Diogenes,
who, if his tub were broken, could have it mended
or replaced to-morrow. If you ask how much money
should suffice, I would bid you have enough to keep
out cold and hunger ; add as much as would make
up the fortune of a knight ; if that be too beggarly,
make it double, or treble the amount : if that suffice
you not, then will not your soul be satisfied with all
the wealth of Croesus or Narcissus !
The 15th Satire gives an account of a fierce fight
between the inhabitants of two neighbouring town-
ships in Egypt, Ombi and Tentyra. In the course
of the battle a fleeing Tentyrite slipped and fell ;
his body was at once torn into pieces and devoured
by the- bloodthirsty Ombites. Juvenal furiously
denounces the crime ; and it gives him the opportu-
nity, in a beautiful and pathetic passage, of declaring
Ixxii
INTRODUCTION
that the tenderness of heart evinced by the capacity
to shed tears is the noblest and most beautiful of the
characteristics of man ; it is the power of sympathy
between man and man that has built up all the
elements of human civilisation.
The 16th Satire, which is only half-finished, is
taken up with recounting the various privileges
enjoyed by the military. No civilian can get justice
against a soldier ; and soldiers have special privileges
in regard to property.
The MSS. of Juvenal
The text on which this translation is mainly based
is that of Biicheler's edition of 1893. That text
had the merit of giving the first complete account
of the readings of P (the Codex Pithoeanus), the most
important and best of all the MSS. of Juvenal.
Since then, however, has appeared the notable
critical edition of Professor Housman (1905), who,
without contesting the general superiority of P over
the multitude of interpolated MSS., has shown that
it cannot be accepted as a sole and infallible guide.
He protests vigorously against the indolent style of
criticism which, having discovered one MS. to be the
best available, sticks to it through thick and thin
without exercising an independent judgment upon
it, and accepts, almost blindfold, any reading pre-
lxxiii
INTRODUCTION
sented by that MS. which is not absolutely im-
possible. In the case of Juvenal, Professor Housman
proposes to arrest the current by which the text
of each succeeding edition of Juvenal stands closer
to that of P, and produces much solid evidence to
show that, in many cases, the readings of P, even
when possible both in Latinity and in sense, will not
stand criticism, and that the readings of other MSS.
are to be preferred to them.
The Pithoeanus is by no means a very ancient
MS. It dates from the end of the ninth century,
having been first used by P. Pithoeus in the year
1585. It was lost for a long time, but was re-
discovered in the middle of the nineteenth centurv
and first published by Otto Jahn in his edition of
1851. It contains many corrections by later hands,
designated by the letter p ; these corrections are
mostly of little value, being derived from one or
other of the host of interpolated MSS. known
generally under the title of w. Professor Housman
goes so far as to assert that p should be quoted for
one purpose and for one purpose only, to enable us
to judge what the reading of P was not.
Shortly put, the description of the MSS. of Juvenal
given by Professor Housman is as follows : —
The great merit of P is that it has escaped, almost
entirely, the deluge of interpolation which has
flooded the great majority of Juvenalian MSS., but
it is not itself entirely free from corruption. One
lxxiv
INTRODUCTION
source of corruption is that its original readings have
been often corrected by later hands from the tenth
century onwards. These corrections, indicated by
the letter p, are for the most part taken from
one or other of the mass of inferior interpolated
MSS., but their faults can sometimes be repaired
from other sources which are more closely allied to
P itself.
Apart from P and the host of interpolated MSS.
stand three important fragmentaiy sources, viz. :
(1) Scidae Arovienses, consisting of five leaves found
at Aarau in 1880 ; (2) the Florilegium Sangallense ;
(3) third, and most important, are the lemmata of
the ancient scholia, which often contain the correct
reading of P which has been corrupted in the text
hyp.
Over against P and its small cluster of kinsfolk
stand the several hundreds of Juvenal's vulgar MSS.
dating from the ninth century to the sixteenth,
infected one and all with a plague of interpolation
from which P and its fellows are exempt. Halfway
between the two camps (older than P, and not
much interpolated) lies a considerable fragment, the
Codex Vindobonensis of the ninth century, contain-
ing i. 1 to ii. 59 and ii. 107 to v. 96. After these
Professor Housman selects seven MSS. of the inter-
polated class, which he calls A, F, G, L, O, T, U,
and from which a true reading or its traces are occa-
sionally to be found. To these MSS. collectively he
lxxv
INTRODUCTION
gives the name of \f/, and as a result of his examina-
tion of them he has pointed out a number of passages
in which the true reading is to be found in one or
more of these MSS., and as many more in which
their readings are to be preferred to those of P.
For conspicuous instances of mistakes made by P in
verbal forms see ix. 41, x. 312, xi. 184, xiv. 113.
Apart from all other MSS. stands the fragment,
the palimpsestus Bobie?isis now in the Vatican. It is
assigned to the end of the fourth century, and
contains xiv. 324-xv. 43. It sometimes agrees with
P, sometimes with other MSS.
Lastly come the ancient Scholia called 2, and
preserved in P. They are very old and often indi-
cate a true reading not in the MSS.1
In the year 1910, Dr. Frederick Leo brought out
a fifth edition of Biicheler's text not differing much
from the edition of 1893 except by recognising for
the first time the genuineness of the passage in
Sat. vi. (O 1-34, coming immediately after line 365)
discovered in the Bodleian MS. by Mr. E. O. Win-
stedt in the year 1899. The more important of the
changes introduced by Dr. Leo are mentioned in the
critical notes.
1 The above description of the MSS. of Juvenal is ab-
breviated from Professor Housman's Introduction, pp. vii to
xi ; see also pp. xvii sqq. and xxii sqq.
Ixxvi
INTRODUCTION
The MSS. of Persius
The text of Persius is in a much better condition
than that of Juvenal ; Mr. S. G. Owen declares that
it is probably purer than that of any other Roman
writer, and stands in no need of the art of con-
jecture.1 Amid a multitude of MSS. three stand
out of conspicuous merit ; the Montpellier, 212 (A) ;
the Vatican, H. 36 (B) ; and the Montpellier, 125
(P), also known by the name Pithoeanus, being
the same MS. which contains also the whole of
Juvenal.
Of these three MSS., all dating from the nintb
century, A and B are so closely allied that they are
evidently drawn from a common source. The sign
a denotes the agreement of these two MSS.
Where A and P differ, Biicheler, in his edition of
1893, gives the superiority to P ; Dr. F. Leo, in the
4th edition (1910), calls in the assistance of the
Laurentian MS. 37. 19 (L), of the eleventh century,
which occasionally preserves the true reading where
both A and P are manifestly wrong (e.g. perona-
lus, v. 102; crasso, vi. 40; ritu, vi. 59; exit, vi. 68).
L shares some corruptions with P, and some with
a ; but on the whole it is more closely allied to a.
Most ancient of all is the Fragmentum Bobiense of
the fourth century, which contains Pers. i. 53-104,
and Juv. xiv. 323-xv. 43.
1 Preface to his edition of Persius and Juvenal, Clarendon
Press, 1907.
lxxvii
INTRODUCTION
Owen takes P as his first authority ; he follows
A B P when they agree, and prefers P when they
disagree, correcting palpable mistakes from A B.
Owen adds to his list Oxoniensis, in the Bodleian
Library (O) of the tenth century, and Cantabri-
giensis, in the Trinity College Library O. iv. 10 (T),
which is also of the tenth century.
The editions of Juvenal are innumerable. Those
which I have found the most useful are the
following : —
G. A. Ruperti, 1801 and 1825.
C. F. Heinrich, 1839.
Dr. Stocker (including Persius), 1845.
Otto Jahn, 1851 ; re-edited by Biicheler (including
Persius) in 1886, 1893, and by F. Leo in 1910.
Prof. J. E. B. Mayor, 1853 ; enlarged in 1869, etc.
A. J. Macleane (including Persius), 1857.
G. A. Simcox {Catena Classicorum), 1867.
J. D. Lewis (with translation), 1879.
Pearson and Strong, Clarendon Press, 1887 and 1892.
L. Friedlander, 1895.
J. D. Duff, 1898 and 1914.
A. E. Housman, critical edition, 1905.
Valuable books on Juvenal and Persius are the
following : —
H. Nettleship, Lectures and Essays, Second Series,
1895, Arts. II. and V.
Friedlander, Sittengeschichte Iioms, 1869.
Ixxviii
INTRODUCTION
Tyrrell, Latin Poetry, pp. 216-259.
H. E. Butler, Post-Augustan Poetry, 1900, pp. 79-96,
and 287-320.
C. Martha, Les Moralistes sous I' Empire Romain,
1866.
A. Vidal, Juvenal et ses Satires, 1869.
Merivale's History of the Romans under the Empire,
Vol. VII., Chap. lxiv.
S. Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius,
1904, Chap. ii. '
Smith's Classical Dictionaries.
As might be expected Avith such popular authors,
Juvenal and Persius have been frequently trans-
lated, and into many, languages. The most famous
translations of both authors into English verse are
the quaint version of Holyday (1673) and the
vigorous and scholarly version of Gifford (1802),
which may still be read with pleasure. Dryden has
translated five of Juvenal's Satires, and the whole
of Persius, into the true Drydenic style ; and
Johnson has achieved immortality by his inimitable
translation — or rather paraphrase — of Sat. hi., under
the title London, and of Sat. x., under the title The
Vanity of Human Wishes. Of prose translations of
Juvenal especial mention may be made of the trans-
lation of thirteen Satires (omitting ii, vi, and ix) by
S. G. Owen (Clarendon Press, 1903), of the same
by Strong and Leeper (Macmillan, 1882), also a re-
vised version by Mr. Leeper alone (Macmillan, 1912),
lxxix
INTRODUCTION
and of that by Mr. J. D. Lewis (1879). Mr. S. H.
Jeyes has translated the whole of the sixteen Satires
(1885), as also the Rev. S. Evans (1869) (Bonn's
Library).
Of the numerous editions of Persius the most
famous is the great Classical Edition of Isaac
Casaubon (Paris, 1605), which has been often re-
printed, and which has served as a groundwork of
all subsequent editions of the poet. Among later
editions may especially be mentioned those of G. L.
Koenig (1803^ and 1825); Otto Jahn (1843), in-
cluded with Juvenal in the edition re-edited by
Biicheler and Leo; C. F. Heinrich (1844); A. J.
Macleane (along with Juvenal) (1857) ; above ail
that of J. Conington (1872); and A. Pretor (Catena
Classicorum) (1868).
In translating Persius I have paidthe greatest atten-
tion to the well-known translation of J. Conington,
Corpus Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford,
which is by far the best existing version of that
author.
lxxx
MSS. OF JUVENAL AS GIVEN IN PROFESSOR
HOUSMAN'S EDITION, 1905
Bob. =codicis Bobiensia, Vaticani 5750, fragmentum.
P = codex Pithoeanus, Montepessulanus 125.
p = codicis Pithoeani corrector.
Arou.=scidae Arouienses.
flor Sang. = codicis Sangallensis 870 florilegium. ,
S = lemmata scholiorum in P et Sang. 870 aeruatorum.
Vind. =codex Vindobonensis 107, mutilus.
¥= codices AFGLOTU vel eorum plures.
A = codex Monacensis 408.
F= codex Parisiensis 8071.
G = codex Parisiensis 7900*.
L= codex Leidensis 82.
0 = codex Canonicianus class. Lat. 41, Bodleianus.
T= codex O, IV, 10 collegii Trinitatis, Cantabrigi.
ensis.
U= codex Vrbinas 661, Vaticanus.
5 = scholiastes in P et Sang. 870 seruatus.
lxxxi
MSS. OF PERSIUS AS GIVEN IN BUECHELER'S
FOURTH EDITION REVISED BY F. LEO, 1910
P = codex Montepessulanus 125.
A = codex Montepessulanus 212. \
B = codex Vaticanus tabularii basilicae H 36 /
L = codex Laurentianus 37, 19.
P1?2 distinguit librarium a correctore, Pd scripturam
ab ipso librario correctam significat. item da
ABL.
E = folium Bobiense (1,53—104).
<p = codices alii vetusti, f recentas.
scb. =scbolion.
Ixxxii
THE SATIRES OF JUVENAL
s
IVVENALIS SATVRAE
SATVRA I
Semper ego auditor tantum ? numquamne reponam
vexatus totiens rauci Theseide Cordi ?
inpune ex-go mihi recitaverit ille togatas,
hie elegos ? inpune diem consumpserit ingens
Telephus aut summi plena iam margine libri 5
scriptus et in tergo necdum finitus Orestes ?
nota magis nulli domus est sua quam mihi lucus
Martis et Aeoliis vicinum rupibus antrum
Vulcani. Quid agant venti, quas torqueat umbras
Aeacus, unde alius furtivae devehat aurum 10
pelliculae, quantas iaculetur Monychus ornos,
Frontonis platani convulsaque marmora clamant
semper et adsiduo ruptae lectore columnae :
expectes eadem a summo minimoque poeta.
et nos ergo manum ferulae subduximus, et nos 15
1 An epic poem. 2 Names of tragedies.
3 One of the judges in Hades. 4 Jason.
6 A Centaur, alluding to the battle between the Centaurs
and the Lapithae.
2
THE SATIRES OF JUVENAL
SATIRE I
DlFFICIIE EST SATURAM NON ScRIBERE
What? Am I to be a listener only all mxdgIL''
Ani I never to get my word in— J that have been so
often bored uy tiie ineseid1 of the ranting Cordus ?
Shall this one have spouted to me his comedies, and
that one his love ditties, and I be unavenged ? Shall
I have no revenge on one who has taken up the
whole day with an interminable Telephus,2 or with
an Orestes,2 which, after filling the margin at the top
of the roll and the back as well, hasn't even yet
come to an end ? No one knows his own house so
well as I know the groves of Mars, and the cave of
Vulcan near the cliffs of Aeolus. What the winds
are brewing ; whose souls Aeacus 3 has on the rack ;
from what country another worthy4 is carrying off
that stolen golden fleece ; how big are the ash trees
which Monychus 5 tosses about : these are the themes
with which Fronto's 6 plane trees and marble halls
are for ever ringing until the pillars quiver and
quake under the continual recitations ; such is the
kind of stuff you may look for from every poet,
greatest or least. Well, I too have slipped my hand
from under the cane ; I too have counselled Sulla to
' A rich patron who lends his house for recitations.
B 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA 1
consilium dedimus Sullae, privatus ut altuin
dormiret ; stulta est dementia,, cum tot ubique
vatibus occurras, periturae parcere chavtae.
cur tamen hoc potius libeat decurrere campo
per quern magnus equos Auruncae flexit alumnus, 20
si vacat ac placidi rationem admittitis, edam.
Cum tener uxorem ducat spado, Mevia Tuscum
figat aprum et nuda teneat venabula mamma,
patricios omnis opibus cum provocet unus
quo tondente gravis iuveni mihi barba sonabat, 25
cum pars Niliacae plebis, cum verna Canopi
Crispinus Tyrias umero revocante lacernas
ventilet aestivum digitis sudantibus aurum,
nee sufferre queat maioris pondera gemmae,
difficile est saturam non scribere. nam quis
iniquae
tam patiens urbis, tarn ferreus, ut teneat se,
causidici nova cum veniat lectica Mathonis
plena ipso, post hunc magni delator amici
et cito rapturus de nobilitate comesa
quod superest, quern Massa timet, quern munere
palpat1 35
Cams et a trepido Thymele summissa Latino ?
cum te summoveant qui testamenta mejentur ^
noctibus,2 in caelum quos eveliit optima summi
nunc via processus, vetulae vesica beatae ?
1 palpat is omitted by P.
1 noctibus Vind.^ : non tibi P.
i Referring to the retirement of Sulla from public life in
b c. 79. Such themes would be prescribed to schoolboys as
rhetorical exercises, of the kind called suasoriae. See Mayor s
n. and Sat. vii. 150-170.
2 Lucilius, the first Roman satirist, B C. 14b-lUrf.
3 Some barber who had made a fortune. The line is
repeated in x. 226.
JUVENAL, SATIRE I
retire from public life and sleep his fill l ; it is a
foolish clemency when you jostle against poets at
every corner, to spare paper that will be wasted
anyhow. But if you can give me time, and will listen
quietly to reason, I will tell you why I prefer to run
in the same course over which the great nursling of
Aurunea2 drove his steeds.
22 When a soft eunuch takes to matrimony, ana
Maevia, with spear in hand and breasts exposed, to
pig-sticking ; when a fellow under whose razor my
stiff youthful beard used to grate 3 challenges, with
his single wealth, the whole nobility ; when a gutter-
snipe of the Nile like Crispinus4-a slave-born
denizen of Canopus 5 — hitches a Tyrian cloak on to
his shoulder, whilst on his sweating finger he airs a
summer ring of gold, unable to endure the weight of
a heavier gem^jj^js hard not to write satire. . For
who can be so tolerant of this monstrous city, who
so iron of soul, as to contain himself when the brand-
new litter of lawyer Matho comes along, filled with
his huge self; after him one who has informed
against his noble patron and will soon sweep away the
remnant of our nobility already gnawed to the bone-
one whom Massa6 dreads, whom Carus0 propitiates by
a bribe, and to whom Thymele7 was sent as envoy by
the terrified Latinus ; 7 when you are thrust on one
side by men who earn legacies by nightly perform-
ances, uiid are raised to heaven by that now royal
road to high preferment— the favours of an aged
and wealthy woman ? Each of the lovers will have
4 A favourite aversion of Juvenal's as a rich Egyptian
parvenu who had risen to be princeps equitum. See iv
1, 31, 108. 5 A city in the Nile Delta.
* Notorious informers under Doniitian.
' Both actors : the allusion is not known.
•
IVVENALIS SATVRA I
unciolam Proculeius habet, sed Gillo deuncem, 40
partes quisque suas ad mensuram inguinis heres.
accipiat sane mercedem sanguinis, et sic
palleat ut nudis pressit qui calcibus anguem
aut Lugudunensem rhetor dicturus ad aram.
Quid refei-arn quanta siccum iecur ardeat ira, 45
cum populum gregibus comitum premit hie spoliator
pupilli prostantis et hie damnatus inani
iudicio ? quid enim salvis infamia nummis ?
exul ab octava Marius bibit et fruitur dis
iratiSj at tu victrix pi'ovincia ploras. 50
Haec ego non credam Venusina digna lucerna ?
haec ego non agitem ? sed quid magis Heracleas
aut Diomedeas aut mugitum labyrinth i
et mare percussum puero fabrumque volantem,
cum leno accipiat moechi bona, si capiendi 55
ius nullum uxori, doctus spectare lacunar,
doctus et ad calicem vigilanti stertere naso ?
cum fas esse putet curam sperare cohortis
qui bona donavit praesepibus et caret omni
maiorum censu, dum pervolat "axe citato 60
Flaminiam puer Automedon ? nam lora tenebat
ipse, lacernatae cum se iactaret amicae.
1 Alluding to a rhetorical contest instituted at Lyons by
Caligula (Suet. Cal 20). Severe and humiliating punishments
were inflicted on those defeated in these contests.
2 Condemned for extortion in Africa in a.d. 100.
JUVENAL, SATIRE I
his share ; Proculeius a twelfth part, Gillo eleven
parts, each in proportion to the magnitude of his
services. Let each take the price of his own blood,
and turn as pale as a man who has trodden upon
a snake bare-footed, or of one who awaits his turn
to orate before the altar at Lugdunum.1
45 Why tell how my heart burns hot with rage
when I see the people hustled by a mob of retainers
attending on one who has defrauded and debauched
his ward, or on another who has been condemned by
a futile verdict — for what mattei's infamy if the cash
be kept? The exiled Marius2 carouses from the
eighth hour of the day and revels in the wrath of
Heaven, while you, poor Province, win your cause
and weep !
51 JVIust I not deem these things worthy of the
Venusian's ^ lamp? Must I not have my fling at them ?
Should I do better to tell tales about Hercules, or Dio-
mede, or the bellowing in the Labyrinth, or about the
flying carpenter 4 and the lad 5 who splashed into
the sea ; and that in an age when the compliant
husband, if his wife may not lawfully inherit,6
takes money from her paramour, being well trained
to keep his eyes upon the ceiling, or to snore with
wakeful nose over his cups ; an age when one who
has squandered his family fortunes upon horse flesh
thinks it right and proper to look for the command
of a cohort ? See him dashing at break-neck speed,
like a very Automedon,7 along the Flaminian way,
holding the reins himself, while he shows himself off
to his great-coated mistress !
3 Horace was born at Venusia B.C. 65.
4 Daedalus. 5 Icarus.
i.e. be legally incapacitated from taking an inheritance.
6
7 The charioteer of Achilles.
IVVENALIS SATVRA I
Nonne libet medio ceras inplere capaces
quadrivio, cum iam sexta cervice feratur
hinc atque inde patens ac nuda paene cathedra 65
et multum i-eferens de Maecenate supino
signator falsi/ qui se lautum atque beatum
exiguis tabulis et gemma fecerit uda ?
Occurrit matrona potens, quae molle Calenum
porrectura viro miscet sitiente rubetam 70
instituitque rudes melior Lucusta propinquas
per famam et populum nigros efferre maritos.
aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere dignum,
si vis esse aliquid ; probitas laudatur et alget.
criminibus debent hortos praetoria mensas, 75
argentum vetus et stantem extra pocula caprum.
quern patitur dormire nurus corruptor avarae,
quern sponsae turpes et praetextatus adulter ?
si natura negat, facit indignatio versum
qualemcumque potest, quales ego vel Cluvienus. 80
Ex quo Deucalion\nimbis tollentibus aequor,
navigio montem ascendit sortesque poposcit,
paulatimque anima caluerunt mollia saxa
et maribus nudas ostendit Pyrrha puellas,
quidquid agunt homines, votum timor ira voluptas 85
gaudia discursus, nostri farrago libelli est.
1 falsi P : /also \p.
1 Calenian and Falernian were two of the most famous
Roman wines.
2 A notorious poisoner under Nero.
3 A small island in the Aegean Sea on which criminals
were confined.
8
JUVENAL, SATIRE 1
63 Would you not like to fill up a whole note-book
at the street crossings when you see a forger borne
along upon the necks of six porters, and exposed to
view on this side and on that in his almost naked
litter, and reminding you of the lounging Maecenas :
one who by help of a scrap of paper and a moistened
seal has converted himself into a fine and wealthy
gentleman?-
69 Then up comes a lordly dame who, when her
husband wants a drink, mixes toad's blood with his
old Calenian,1 and improving upon Lucusta 2 herself,
teaches her artless neighbours to brave the talk of
the town and carry forth to burial the blackened
corpses of their husbands. If you want to be any-
body ^nowadays, you mus£ dare Mtoe crimethat
mgritrBanuw Qvam»-or~a~ gaol ; honesty is praised
afiSCsiarves: It is to their crimes that men owe
their pleasure-grounds and high commands, their fine
tables and old silver goblets with goats standing out
in relief. Who can get sleep for thinking of a money-
loving daughter-in-law seduced, of brides that have
lost their virtue, or of adulterers not out of their
'teens ? Though nature say me nay, indignation will
prompt my verse, of whatever kind it be— such
verse as I can write, or Cluvienus ! 4
81 From the day when the rain-clouds lifted up the
waters, and Deucalion climbed that mountain in his
ship to seek an oracle— that day when stones grew
soft and warm with life, and Pyrrha showed maidens
m nature's garb to men-^alUhe doings of mankind.
their vows, their fears, their a~n~g~ers and their plea-
sures, their joys and goings to and fro, shall form the
motley subiecl of my page. Fc-r when was Vice m7>re
4 Unknown ; some scribbler of the day.
IVVENALIS SATVRA I
et quando uberior vitiorum copia ? quando
maior avaritiae patuit sinus ? alea quando
hos animos ? neque enim loculis comitantibus itur
ad casum tabulae, posita sed ludituv area. 90
proelia quanta illic dispensatore videbis
armigero ! simplexne furor sestertia centum
perdere et horrenti tunicam non reddere servo ?
quis totidem erexit villas, quis fercula septem
secreto cenavit avus ? nunc sportula primo 95
limine parva sedet turbae rapienda togatae ;
ille tamen faciem prius inspicit et trepidat ne
snppositus \enias ac falso nomine poscas :
agnitus accipies. iubet a praecone vocari
ipsos Troiugenas, nam vexant limen et ipsi 100
nobiscum. "da praetori, da deinde tribuno."
sed libertinus prior est. " prior " inquit " ego adsum.
cur timeam dubitemve locum defendere ? quamvis
natus ad Eupbraten, molles quod in aure fenesti-ae
arguerint, licet ipse negem, sed quinque tabernae 105
quadringenta parant. quid confert purpura maior
optandum, si Laurenti custodit in agro
conductas Corvinus oves, ego possideo plus
Pallante et Licinis? " expectent ergo tribuni,
vincant divitiae, sacro ne cedat honori 110
nuper in banc urbem pedibus qui venerat albis,
1 The fortune required of a knight (the census equeslris)
was 400,000 sesterces.
2 The broad purple stripe {latus clavus) on the tunic of
senators.
3 One of an ancient Roman family.
io
JUVENAL, SATIRE I
rampant ? When did the maw of Avarice gape wider ?
vVjjenwas gambling so reckless ?~"TVIen rnmp nntnnw
with purses to the hazard of the gaming table, but with
a treasure-chest beside them. What battles will you
there see waged with a steward for armour-bearer !
Is it a simple form of madness to lose a hundred
thousand sesterces, and not have a shirt to give to a
shivering slave? Which of our grandfathers built
such numbers of villas, or dined by himself off seven
courses? Look now at the meagre dole set down
upon the threshold for a toga-clad mob to scramble
for ! The patron first peers into your face, fearing
that you may be claiming under someone else's name :
once recognised, you will get your share. He tnen
bids the crier call up the Trojan-blooded nobles— for
they too besiege the door as well as we: "The
Praetor first," says he, "and after him the Tribune."
"But I was here first," says a freedman who stops
the way; "why should I be afraid, or hesitate to
keep my place ? Though born on the Euphrates— a
fact which the little windows in my ears would testify
though I myself denied it— yet I am the owner of
five shops which bring me in four hundred thou-
sand sesterces.1 What better thing does the Broad
Purple 2 bestow if a Corvinus 3 herds sheep for daily
wage in the Laurentian country, while I possess
more property than either a Pallas or a Licinus ? "4
So let the Tribunes await their turn; let money
carry the day ; let the sacred office 5 give way to one
who came but yesterday with whitened6 feet into
* Pallas and Licinus were wealthy freedmen.
• The persons of the Tribunes of the Plebs were sacrosanct,
blaves imported for sale had white chalk-marks on their
feet.
II
IVVENALIS SATVRA I
quandoquidem inter nos sanctissima divitiarum
maiestas, etsi funesta pecunia templo
nondum habitas,1 nullas nummorum ereximus aras,
ut colitur Pax atque 2 Fides Victoria Virtus 115
quaeque salutato crepitat Concordia nido.
Sed cum summus honor finito conputet anno,
sportula quid referat, quantum rationibus addat,
quid facient comites quibus hinc toga, calceus hinc est
et panis fumusque domi ? densissima centum 120
quadrantes lectica petit, sequiturque maritum
languida vel praegnas et circumducitur uxor,
hie petit absenti nota iam callidus arte
ostendens vacuam et clausam pro coniuge sellam
11 Gallamea est" inquit, " citius dimitte. moraris ? 125
profer, Galla, caput, noli vexare, quiescit."3
Ipse dies pulchro distinguitur ordine rerum :
sportula, deinde forum iurisque peritus Apollo
atque triumphales, inter quas ausus habere
nescio quis titulos Aegyptius atque Arabarches, 130
cuius ad effigiem non tantum meiere fas est.
vestibulis abeunt veteres lassique clientes
votaque deponunt, quamquam longissima cenae
spes homini ; caulis miseris atque ignis emendus.
optima sil varum interea pelagique vorabit 135
1 habitas ty : habitat P Vind.OT Biich.Housm.
2 In place of the dull atque of P^, Dr. Postgate, supported
by the reading firma found in the MS. IT, has made the
brilliant conj. Fama, approved by L. Ha vet. See Class.
Quart, iii. p. 67.
3 quiescit Vind.i^ : quiescaet P: quiescet Biich.Housm.
12
JUVENAL, SATIRE I
our city. Fjpr no deity is held in such reverence
amongst us as Weallth : though as yet, O baneful
money, thou hast no temple of thine own ; not yet
jiave we reared altars to Money in like manner as we
worship Peace and~Honour, Victory andTFtue. orthat
"XoncorcPtKat twitters when we saTute her nesjb.
117 If therTTne great officers ot state reckon up at
the end of the year how much the dole brings in,
how much it adds to their income, what shall we
dependants do who, out of the self-same dole, have
to find ourselves in coats and shoes, in the bread and
fire of our homes? A mob of litters comes in quest
of the hundred farthings ; here is a husband going
the round, followed by a sickly or pregnant wife ;
another, by a clever and well-known trick, claims for
a wife that is not there, pointing, in her stead, to a
closed and empty chair : « My Galla's in there," says
he; "let us off quick, will you not?" " Galla, put
out your head ! " " Don't disturb her, she's asleep ! "
127 The day itself is marked out by a fine round
of business. First comes the dole ; then the courts,
and Apollo 2 learned in the law, and those triumphal
statues among which some Egyptian Arabarch3 or
other has dared to set up his titles ; against whose
statue more than one kind of nuisance may be com-
mitted ! Wearied and hopeless, the old clients leave
the door, though the last hope that a man relinquishes
is that of a dinner ; the poor wretches must buy their
cabbage and their fuel. Meanwhile their lordly patron
will be devouring the choicest products of wood and
1 The temple of Concord, near the Capitol. Storks built
their nests on the temple.
2 A statue of Apollo in the Forum Avgusti.
3 Probably an allusion to Julius Alexander, a Jew who
was Prefect of Egypt a.d. 67-70.
13
IVVENALIS SATVRA I
rex horurrij vacuisque toris tantuni ipse iacebit.
nam de tot pulchris et latis oi'bibus et tarn
antiquis una comedunt patrimonia mensa.
nullus iam parasitus erit. sed quis ferat istas
luxuriae sordes? quanta est gula quae sibi totos 140
ponit apros, animal propter convivia natum !
poena tamen praesens, cum tu deponis amictus
turgidus et crudum 1 pavonem in balnea poi'tas.
hinc subitae mortes atque intestata 2 senectus ;
it3 nova nee tristis per cunctas fabula cenas : 145
ducitur iratis plaudendum funus amicis.
Nil erit ulterius quod nostris moribus addat
posteritas, eadem facient cupientque minores,
oinne in praecipiti vitium stetit. utere velis,
totos pande sinus, dicas 4 hie forsitan " unde 150
ingenium par materiae ? unde ilia priorum
scribendi quodcumque animo flagrante liberet
simplicitas ? f cuius non audeo dicere nomen ?
quid refert, dictis ignoscat Mucius an non ? '
pone Tigellinum : taeda lucebis5 in ilia 155
qua stantes ardent qui fixo gutture 6 fumant,
et latum media sulcum deducis7 harena.
1 P lias crudus : crudum <h etc.
2 intestata. See Glass. Rev. 1899, pp. 432-4.
3 So AL and Housm.: Biich. follows the et of P.
4 dicas \p : dices PO : Housm. prefers dicas ; see Journal
of Phil. No. 67, p. 43. 5 P has lucebit : so also GT.
6 Biich. (1893 edn.) reads pectore, as do PAO and Owen :
gutture is read by Vind.GLTU. So Housm. ; see Journal
of Phil. No. 67, p. 45.
7 So pO : deducit P Housm. : Biich. (1910) conj. ducetis.
Owen conj. dent lucis, reading ut for et. Housm. supposes
a line dropped out after 1. 156, containing the word cadaver
which becomes the subject to deducit.
JUVENAL, SATIRE I
sea, lying alone upon an empty couch ; for at a
single one of their fine large and antique tables
they devour whole fortunes. Ere long no parasites,
will hp ]pft I Whr> rvnii bear to see luxury so mean ?
What a huge gullet ~to have a whole boar— an
animal created for conviviality — served up to it !
But you will soon pay for it, my friend, when you
take off your clothes, and with distended stomach
carry your peacock into the bath undigested !
Hence a sudden death, and an intestate old age ;
the new and merry tale runs the round of every
dinner-table, and the corpse is carried forth to
burial amid the cheers of enraged friends !
117 To thesjsways of ours Posterity will have no-
thing to adprTour grandchildre1o"~will do the same
, things, and desire the same things, that we do. ATI .
^vice is at its acme ; l up with your sails and shake out
every stitch of canvas ! Here perhaps you will say,
" Where find the talent to match the theme ?
Where find that freedom of our forefathers to write
whatever the burning soul desired ? ' What man is
there that I dare not name ? What matters it
whether Mucius forgives my words or no?2'" But
just describe Tigellinus3 and you Avill blaze amid
those faggots in which men, with their throats
tightly gripped, stand and burn and smoke, and you 4
trace a broad furrow through the middle of the arena.
1 The phrase is difficult. Duff translates "Vice always
stands above a sheer descent," and therefore soon reaches its
extreme point.
2 Apparently a quotation from Lucilius, being an attack
on P. Mucius Scaevola.
3 An infamous favourite of Nero's.
4 i e. "your body." The passage refers to the burning of
the early Christians, and the dragging of their remains across
the arena.
i5
160
IVVENALIS SATVRA II
Qui dedit ergo tribus patruis aconita, vehatur
pensilibus plumis atque illinc despiciat nos ?
" cum veniet contra, digito compesce labellum :
accusator erit qui verbum dixerit f hie est.'
securus licet Aenean Rutulumque ferocem
committas, nulli gravis est percussus Achilles
aut multum quaesitus Hylas urnamque secutus :
ense velut stricto quotiens Lucilius ardens 165
infremuit, rubet auditor cui frigida mens est
criminibus, tacita sudant praecordia culpa,
inde ira l et lacrimae. tecum prius ergo voluta
haec animo ante tubas : galeatum sero duelli
paenitet." experiar quid concedatur in illos, 170
quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis atque Latina.
SATVRA II
Vltra Sauromatas fugere hinc libet et glacialem
Oceanum, quotiens aliquid de moribus audent
qui Curios simulant et Bacchanalia vivunt.
indocti primum, quamquam plena omnia gypso
Chrysippi invenias ; nam perfectissimus horum, 5
si quis Aristotelen similem vel Pittacon emit
1 So Housm. following AGLO : Biich. reads irae from P.
1 Turnus, king of the Rutulians.
2 A favourite of Hercules, who was drawn into a well by
the Naids.
16
JUVENAL, SATIRE If
158 What ? Is a man Avho has administered aconite
to half a dozen uncles to ride by and look down upon
me from his swaying cushions ? " Yes ; and when
he comes near you, put your finger to your lip : he
who but says the word, l That's the man ! ' will
be counted an informer. You may set Aeneas and
the brave Rutulian x a-fighting with an easy mind ;
it will hurt no one's feelings to hear how Achilles
was slain, or how Hylas 2 was searched for when he
tumbled after his pitcher. But when Lucilius roars
and rages as if with sword in hand, the hearer, whose
soul was cold with crime, grows red ; he sweats with
the secret consciousness of sin. Hence wrath and
tears. So turn these things over in your mind before
the trumpet sounds ; the helmet once donned, it is
too late to repent you of the battle." Then I will
try what I may say of those worthies whose ashes lie
under the Flaminian and Latin3 roads.
SATIRE II
Moralists without Morals
I would fain flee to Sarmatia and the frozen
Sea when people who ape the Curii 4 and live like
Bacchanals dare talk about morals. In the first
place, they are unlearned persons, though you may
find their houses crammed with plaster casts of
Chrysippus 5 ; for their greatest hero is the man
who has bought a likeness of Aristotle or Pittacus,6
3 The sides of the great roads leading out from Rome were
lined with monuments to the dead.
* A famous family of early Rome.
6 The eminent Stoic philosopher, pupil of Cleanthes.
6 One of the seven wise men of Greece, b. circ. B.C. 652.
n
IVVENALIS SATVRA II
et iubet archetypos pluteum servare Cleanthas.
frontis nulla fides ; quis enirn non vicus abundat
tristibus obscaenis ? castigas turpia, cum sis
inter Socraticos notissima fossa cinaedos? 10
hispida membra quidem et durae per bracchia saetae
promittunt atrocem animum, sed podice levi
caeduntur tumidae medico ridente mariscae.
rarus sermo illis et magna libido tacendi
atque supercilio brevior coma, verius ergo 15
et magis ingenue Peribomius ; hunc ego fatis
inputo, qui vultu morbum incessuque fatetur.
horum simplicitas miserabilis, his furor ipse
dat veniam ; sed peiores, qui talia verbis
Herculis invadunt et de virtute locuti 20
clunem agitant. "ego te ceventerm Sexte, verebor ? "
infamis Varillus ait " quo deterior te ? "
loripedem rectus derideat, Aethiopem albus ;
quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes ?
quis caelum terris non misceat et mare caelo, 25
si fur displiceat Verri, homicida Miloni,
Clodius accuset moechoSj Catilina Cethegum,
in tabulam Syllae si dicant discipuli tres ?
qualis erat nuper tragico pollutus adulter
concubitu, qui tunc leges revocabat amaras 30
1 Pupil and successor of Zeno, founder of the Stoic School,
from about B.C. 300 to 220. Famous for his poverty and
iron will.
2 Some villainous character of the clay.
3 Alluding to the faction fights between Clodius and Milo,
B.C. 52. Clodius violated the rites of the Bona Dea ; see vi.
314-341.
4 A partner in the Catilinarian conspiracy, B.C. 63.
18
JUVENAL, SATIRE II
or bids his shelves preserve an original portrait of
Cleanthes.1 Men's faces are not to be trusted ;
does not every street abound in gloomy-visaged
debauchees ? And do you rebuke foul practices,
when you are yourself the most notorious of the
Socratic reprobates? A hairy body, and arms stiff
with bristles, give promise of a manly soul : but
the doctor grins when he cuts into the growths
on your sleek buttocks. Men of your kidney talk
little; they glory in taciturnity, and cut their hair
shorter than their eyebrows. Peribomius 2 himselt
is more open and more honest ; his face, his walk,
betray his distemper, and I charge Destiny with
his failings. Such men excite your pity by their
frankness ; the very fury of their passions wins them
pardon. Far worse are those who denounce evil
ways in the language of a Hercules ; and after dis-
coursing upon virtue, prepare to practise vice.
"Am I to respect you, Sextus," quoth the ill-famed
Varillus, " when you do as I do ? How am I worse
than yourself? " Let the straight-legged man laugh
at the club-footed, the white man at the blackamoor:
but who could endure the Gracchi railing at sedi-
tion ? Who will not confound heaven with earth,
and sea with sky, if Verres denounce thieves, or
Milo3 cut-throats? If Clodius condemn adulterers,
or Catiline upbraid Cethegus4; or if Sulla's three
disciples 5 inveigh against proscriptions ? Such a
man was that adulterer6 who, after lately defiling
himself by a union of the tragic style, revived the
stern laws that were to be a terror to all men — ay,
6 i.e. the second triumvirate (Octavius, Antony, and
Lepidus) who followed the example of Sulla's proscriptions.
6 The emperor Domitian. Domitian was a lover of his
niece Julia, daughter of his brother Titus.
c 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA II
omnibus atque ipsis Veneri Martique timendas,
cum tot abortivis fecundam Iulia vulvam
solveret et patruo similes effunderet offas.
nonne igitur iure ac merito vitia ultima fictos
contemnunt Scauros et castigata remordent? 35
Non tulit ex illis torvum Laronia quendam
clamantem totiens " ubi nunc, lex Iulia ? l dormis ? "
atque ita subridens : " felicia tempora, quae te
moribus opponunt. habeat iam Roma pudorem,
tertius e caelo cecidit Cato. sed tamen unde 40
haec emis, hirsuto spirant opobalsama collo
quae tibi ? ne pudeat dominum monstrare tabernae.
quod si vexantur leges ac iura/ citari
ante omnes debet Scantinia : respice primum
et scrutare viros ; faciunt nam 3 plura, sed illos 45
defendit numerus iunctaeque umbone phalanges,
magna inter molles concordia. non erit ullum
exemplum in nostro tam detestabile sexu.
Media non lambit Cluviam nee Flora Catullam :
Hispo subit iuvenes et morbo pallet utroque. 50
" Numquid nos agimus causas, civilia iura
novimuSj aut ullo strepitu fora vestra movemus ?
luctantur paucae, comedunt colyphia paucae :
vos lanam trahitis calathisque peracta refertis
veil era, vos tenui praegnantem stamine fusum 55
1 Housm. punctuates ubi nunc, lex Julia, dormis ?
2 ac iura \\i (see 1. 72) : acturae P.
3 nam Housm. from 0: hi Vind.ij' and Biich.: qui Biich.
(1910).
20
JUVENAL, SATIRE II
even to Mars and Venus — at the moment when Julia
was relieving her fertile womb and giving birth to
abortions that displayed the similitude of her uncle.
Is it not then right and proper that the very worst
of sinners should despise your pretended Scauri,1 and
bite back when bitten ?
3(3 Laronia could not contain herself when one of
these sour-faced worthies cried out, " What of your
Julian Law?2 Has it gone to sleep?" To which
she answered smilingly, " O happy times to have you
for a censor of our morals ! Once more may Rome
regain her modesty ; a third Cato has come down to
us from the skies ! But tell me, where did you buy
that balsam juice that exhales from your hairy neck ?
Don't be ashamed to point out to me the shopman !
If laws and statutes are to be raked up, you should
cite first of all the Scantinian 3 : inquire first into the
things that are done by men ; men do more wicked
things than we do, but they are protected by their
numbers, and the tight-locked shields of their
phalanx. Male effeminates agree wondrously well
among themselves ; never in our sex will you find
such loathsome examples of evil.
51 " Do we women ever plead in the courts ?
Are we learned in the Law ? Do your court-houses
ever ring with our bawling? Some few of us
are wrestlers ; some of us eat meat-rations : you
men spin wool and bring back your tale of work
in baskets when it is done ; you twirl round the
spindle big with fine thread more deftly than
1 One of the most famous families of the later Republic.
2 In reference to the law passed by Augustus for encourag-
ing marriage {Lex Iulia de maritandis ordinibus).
8 A law against unnatural crime.
21
IVVENALIS SATVRA II
Penelope melius, levius torquetis Arachne,
horrida quale facit residens in codice paelex.
notum est cur solo tabulas inpleverit Hister
liberto, dederit vivus cur multa puellae ;
dives erit magno quae dormit tertia lecto ; 60
tu nube atque tace : donant arcana cylindros.
de nobis post haec tristis sententia fertur ?
dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas."
Fugerunt trepidi vera ac manifesta canentem
Stoicidae ; quid enim falsi Laronia ? sed quid 65
non facient alii, cum tu multicia sumas,
Cretice, et hanc vestem populo mirante perores
in Proculas et Pollittas ? est moecha Fabulla,
damnetur, si vis, etiam Carfinia : talem
non sumet damnata togam. " sed Iulius ardet, 70
aestuo." nudus agas : minus est insania turpis.
en habitum quo te leges ac iura ferentem
vulneribus crudis populus modo victor, et illud
montanum positis audiret vulgus aratris.
quid non proclames, in corpore iudicis ista 75
si videas ? quaero an deceant multicia testem.
acer et indomitus libertatisque magister,
Cretice, perluces. dedit hanc contagio labem
et dabit in plures, sicut grex totus in agris
1 A Lydian maiden who challenged Athene in spinning
and was turned into a spider.
2 Cylindrus, a cylinder, is here used for a precious stone
cut in that shape.
22
JUVENAL, SATIRE II
Penelope, more delicately than Arachne,1 doing
work such as an unkempt drab squatting on a log
would do. Everybody knows why Hister left all
his property to his freedman, why in his life-time
he gave so many presents to his young wife ; the
woman who sleeps third in a big bed will want for
nothing. So when you take a husband, keep your
mouth shut; precious stones2 will be the reward ot
a well-kept secret. After this, what condemnation
can be pronounced on women ? Our censor absolves
the crow and passes judgment on the pigeon ! "
84 While Laronia was uttering these plain truths,
the would-be Stoics made off in confusion : for what
word of untruth had she spoken ? Yet what will
not other men do when you, Creticus, dress yourself
in garments of gauze, and while everyone is mar-
velling at your attire, launch out against the Proculae
and the Pollittae ? Fabulla is an adultei*ess ; condemn
Carfinia of the same crime if you please ; but how-
ever guilty, they would never wear such a gown as
yours. "O but," you say, "these July days are so
sweltering ! " Then why not plead without clothes?
Such madness would be less disgraceful. A pretty
garb yours in which to propose or expound laws to
our countrymen flushed with victory, and with their
wounds yet unhealed ; and to those mountain rustics
who had laid down their ploughs to listen to you ?
What would you not exclaim if you saw a judge
dressed like that? Would a robe of gauze sit be-
comingly on a witness ? You, Creticus, you, the keen,
unbending champion of human liberty, to be clothed
in a transparency ! This plague has come upon us
by infection, and it will spread still further, just as
in the fields the scab of one sheep, or the mange of
23
IVVENALIS SATVRA II
unius scabie cadit et porrigine x porci 80
uvaque conspecta livorem ducit ab uva.
Foedius hoc aliquid quandoque audebis amictu ;
nemo repente fuit turpissimus. accipient te
paulatim qui longa domi redimicula sumunt
frontibus et toto posuere monilia collo, 85
atque bonam tenerae placant abdomine porcae
et magno cratere deam ; sed more sinistro
exagitata procul non intrat femina limen :
solis ara deae maribus patet. "ite profanae/'
clamatur, " nullo gemit hie tibicina cornu." 90
talia secreta coluerunt orgia taeda
Cecropiam soliti Baptae lassare Cotyton.
ille supercilium madida fuligine tinctum
obliqua producit acu pingitque trementis
attolens oculos ; vitreo bibit ille priapo, 95
reticulumque comis auratum ingentibus implet
caerulea indutus scutulata aut galbina rasa,
et per Iunonem domini iurante ministro ;
ille tenet speculum, pathici gestamen Othonis,
Actoris Aurunci spolium, quo se ille videbat 100
armatum, cum iam tolli vexilla iuberet.
res memoranda novis annalibus atque recenti
historia, speculum civilis sarcina belli ;
nimirum summi ducis est occidere Galbam
1 prurigine P.
1 None but women could attend the rites of the Bona Dea.
Hence the scandal created in B.C. 62 by Clodius when he
made his way into the house of Caesar, where the rites were
being celebrated, disguised as a woman. Hence Caesar put
away his wife Pompeia, as " Caesar's wife must be above
suspicion." In the present passage Juvenal refers to some
real or imaginary inversion of the old rule, by which none
but males, clothed in female dresses, were to be admitted to
the worship of the Goddess.
24
JUVENAL, SATIRE II
one pig, destroys an entire herd ; just as one bunch
of grapes takes on its sickly colour from the aspect
of its neighbour.
82 Some day you will venture on something more
shameful than this dress; no one reaches the
depths of turpitude all at once. In due time you
will be welcomed by those who in their homes put
fillets round their brows, swathe themselves with
necklaces, and propitiate the Bona Dea with the
stomach of a porker and a huge bowl of wine, though
by an evil usage the Goddess warns off all women
from the door ; none but males may approach her
altar.1 "Away with you! profane women" is the
cry; "no booming horn, no she-minstrels here!"
Such were the secret torchlight orgies with which
the Baptae 2 wearied the Cecropian 3 Cotytto. One
prolongs his eyebrows with some damp soot on the
edge of a needle, and lifts up his blinking eyes to be
painted ; another drinks out of an obscenely-shaped
glass, and ties up his long locks in a gilded net ; he is
clothed in blue checks, or smooth-faced green ; the
attendant swears by Juno like his master. Another
holds in his hand a mirror like that carried by the
effeminate Otho : a trophy of the Auruncan Actor,4 in
which he gazed at his own image in full armour when
he was just ready to give the order to advance— a
thing notable and novel in the annals of our time, a
mirror among the kit of Civil War! It needed, in truth,
a mighty general to slay Galba, and keep his own skin
2 Worshippers of the Thracian deity Cotytto.
3 i.e. Athenian, Cecrops being the first king of Athens.
4 The words Actoris Aurunci spolivm area quotation from
Virg. Aen. xii 94. The suggestion seems to be that Otho
was as proud of his mirror as if it had been a trophy of war,
like the spear which King Turnus captured from Actor.
25
IVVENALIS SATVRA II
et curare cutem ; summi constantia civis 105
Bebriacis campis spolium l adfectare Palati,
et pressum in facie digitis extendere panenr,
quod nee in Assyrio pharetrata Samiramis orbe,
maesta nee Actiaca fecit Cleopatra carina,
hie nullus verbis pudor aut reverentia mensae, 110
hie turpis 2 Cybeles et fracta voce loquendi
libertas et crine senex fanaticus albo
sacrorum antistes, rarum ac memorabile magni
gutturis exemplum conducendusque magister.
quid tamen expectant, Phrygio quos tempus erat
iam 115
more supervacuam cultris abrumpere carnem ?
Quadringenta dedit Gracchus sestertia dotem
cornicini, sive hie recto cantaverat aere ;
signatae tabulae, dictum " feliciter," ingens
cena sedet, gremio iacuit nova nupta mariti. 120
o proceres, censore opus est an haruspice nobis ?
scilicet horreres maioraque monstra putares,
si mulier vitulum vel si bos ederet agnum ?
segmenta et longos habitus et flammea sumit
arcano qui sacra ferens nutantia loro 125
sudavit clupeis ancilibus.
O pater urbis,
unde nefas tantum Latiis pastoribus ? unde
haec tetigit, Gradive, tuos urtica nepotes ?
traditur ecce viro clarus genere atque opibus vir,
1 spolium 4-0 : solium Herwerd.Housm.
2 turpis PVind.^ : turpes TParis.
1 The battle in which Otbo was defeated by Vitellius.
2 Mythical founder of the Assyrian empire with her
husband Ninua.
26
JUVENAL, SATIRE II
sleek; it needed a citizen of highest courage to ape
the splendours of the Palace on the field of Bebria-
cum/ and plaster his face with dough ! Never did the
quiver-bearing Samiramis2 the like in her Assyrian
realm, nor the despairing Cleopatra on board her
ship at Actium. No decency of language is there
here : no regard for the manners of the table. You
will hear all the foul talk and squeaking tones of
Cybele ; a grey-haired frenzied old man presides
over the rites; he is a rare and notable master of
the art of gluttony, and should be hired to teach it.
But why wait any longer when it were time in
Phrygian fashion to lop off the superfluous flesh ?
117 Gracchus has presented to a cornet player — or
perhaps it was a player on the straight horn — a dowry
of four hundred thousand sesterces. The contract
has been signed; the benedictions have been pro-
nounced ; the banqueters are seated, the new made
bride is reclining on the bosom of her husband. O
ye nobles of Rome ! is it a soothsayer that we need,
or a Censor ? Would you be more aghast, would you
deem it a greater portent, if a woman gave birth to a
calf, or an ox to a lamb? The man who is now
arraying himself in the flounces and train and veil of
a bride once carried the quivering shields 3 of Mars
by the sacred thongs and sweated under the sacred
burden !
126 O Father of our city, whence came such wicked-
ness among thy Latin shepherds ? How did such a
lust possess thy grandchildren, O Gradivus ? Behold!
Here you have a man of high birth and wealth being
3 Gracchus was one of the Salii, priests of Mars who had
to carry the sacred shields of Mars (ancilia) in procession
through the city.
27
IVVENALIS SATVRA II
nee galeam quassas, nee terram cuspide pulsas, 130
nee quereris patri? vade ergo et cede severi
iugeribus cam pi, quern neglegis.
" Officium eras
prime- sole mihi peragendum in valle Quirini."
"quae causa officii ? " "quid quaeris ? nubit amicus
nee multos adhibet." liceat modo vivere, fient, 135
fient ista palam, cupient et in acta referri.
interea tormentum ingens nubentibus haeret,
quod nequeant parere et pai'tu retinere maritos.
sed melius, quod nil animis in corpora iuris
natura indulget : steriles moriuntur, et illis 140
turgida non prodest condita pyxide Lyde,
nee prodest agili palmas praebere luperco.
Vicit et hoc monstrum tunicati fuscina Gracchi,
lustravitque fuga mediam gladiator harenam
et Capitolinis generosior et Marcellis 145
et Catuli Paulique minoribus et Fabiis et
omnibus ad podium spectantibus, his licet ipsum
admoveas cuius tunc munere retia misit.
Esse aliquos manes et subterranea regna
et contum a et Stygk) ranas in gurgite nigras, 150
atque una transire vadum tot milia cumba
1 et contum 2Vind.i|/: et pontum PSTU. Housm. reads
Cocytum after Luitprandus, Antapodosis 5 B.
1 i.e. the Campus Martius.
2 The Luperci were a mysterious priesthood who on certain
days ran round the pomoerium clad in goat-skins and struck
at any woman they met with goat-skin thongs in order to
produce fertility.
3 The podium was a balustrade, or balcony, set all round
the amphitheatre, from which the most distinguished of the
spectators witnessed the performance.
28
JUVENAL, SATIRE II
handed over in marriage to a man, and yet neithei
shakest thy helmet, nor smitest the earth with thy
spear, nor yet protestest to thy Father ? Away with
thee then ; begone from that broad Martial Plain *
which thou hast forgotten !
132 "1 have a ceremony to attend," quoth one, "at
dawn to-morrow, in the Quirinal valley." "What is
the occasion ? " " No need to ask : a friend is taking
to himself a husband ; quite a small affair." Yes, and
if we only live long enough, we shall see these things
done openly : people will wish to see them reported
among the news of the day. Meanwhile these would-
be brides have one great trouble : they can bear no
children wherewith to keep the affection of their
husbands ; well has nature done in granting to their
desires no power over their bodies. They die in-
fertile; naught avails them the medicine-chest of
the bloated Lyde, or to hold out their hands to
the blows of the swift-footed Luperci ! 2
143 Greater still the portent when Gracchus, clad
in a tunic, played the gladiator, and fled, trident in
hand, across the arena — Gracchus, a man of nobler
birth than the Capitolini, or the Marcelli, or the
descendents of Catulus or Paulus, or the Fabii :
nobler than all the spectators in the podium3; not
excepting him who gave the show at which that net 4
was flung.
149 That there are such things as Manes, and king-
doms below ground, and punt-poles, and Stygian
pools black with frogs, and all those thousands cross-
ing over in a single bark — these things not even
4 For the disgrace incurred by Gracchus in fighting as
a retiarius against a secutor, see the fuller passage viii. 199-
210 and note.
29
IVVENALIS SATVRA III
nee pueri credunt, nisi qui nondum aere lavantur.
sed tu vera puta : Curius quid sentit et ambo
Scipiadae, quid Fabricius manesqUe Camilli,
quid Cremerae legio et Cannis consumpta iuven-
tus, 155
tot bellorum animae, quotiens hinc talis ad illos
umbra venit ? cuperent lustrari, si qua darentur
sulpura cum taedis et si foret umida laurus.
illic 1 heu miseri traducimur. arma quidem ultra
litora Iuvernae promovimus et modo captas 160
Orcadas ac minima contentos nocte Britannos ;
sed quae nunc populi fiunt victoris in urbe,
non faciunt illi quos vicimus. et tamen unus
Armenius Zalaces cunctis narratur ephebis
mollior ardenti sese indulsisse tribune 165
aspice quid faciant commercia : venerat obses,
hie fiunt homines, nam si mora longior urbem
indulsit pueris, non umquam 2 derit amator.
mittentur bracae cultelli frena flagellum ;
sic praetextatos referunt Artaxata mores. 170
SATVRA III
Quamvis digressu veteris confusus amici
laudo tamen, vacuis quod sedem figere Cumis
destinet atque unum civem donare Sibyllae.
1 illic Vind.GL : illuc ATU and appar. P.
2 7io?i umquam GLOTHousm. : non numqwam PUBiich.
30
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
boys believe, except such as have not yet had
their penny bath. But just imagine them to be
true— what would Curius and the two Scipios think ?
or Fabricius and the spirit of Camillus ? What would
the legion that fought at the Cremera * think, or the
young manhood that fell at Cannae ; what would all
those gallant hearts feel when a shade of this sort
came down to them from here ? They would wish
to be purified ; if only sulphur and torches and clamp
laurel-branches were to be had. Such is the degrada-
tion to which we have come ! Our arms indeed we
have pushed beyond Juverna's2 shores, to the new-
conquered Orcades and the short-nighted Britons ;
but the things which we do in our victorious city
will never be done by the men whom we have
conquered. And yet they say that one Zalaces, an
Armenian more effeminate than any of our youth, has
yielded to the ardour of a Tribune ! Just see what
evil communications do! He came as a hostage:
but here boys are turned into men. Give them a
long sojourn in our city, and lovers will never fail
them. They will throw away their trousers and their
knives, their bridles and their whips, and carry back
to Artaxata the manners of our Roman youth.
SATIRE III
Quid Romae Faciam?
Though put out by the departure of my old friend,
I commend his purpose to fix his home at Cumae'
and to present one citizen to the Sibyl. That is the
1 The battle in which 300 Fabii were killed.
a Ireland.
IVVENALIS SATVRA lit
ianua Baiarum est et gratum litus amoeni
secessus. ego vel Prochytam praepono Suburae ; 5
nam quid tarn miserum, tam solum vidimus, ut non
deterius credas horrere incendia, lapsus
tectorum adsiduos ac mille pericula saevae
urbis et Augusto recitantes mense poetas ?
Sed dum tota domus raeda componitur una, 10
substitit ad veteres arcus madidamque Capenam.
hie, ubi nocturnae Numa constituebat amicae,
nunc sacri fontis nemus et delubra locantur
Iudaeis, quorum cophinus faenumque supellex
(omnis enim populo mercedem pendere iussa est 15
arbor et eiectis mendicat silva Camenis),
in vallem Egeriae descendimus et speluncas
dissimiles veris. quanto praesentius 1 esset
numen aquis, viridi si margine clauderet undas
herba, nee ingenuum violarent marmora tofum. 20
Hie tunc Vmbricius " quando artibus," inquit,
" honestis
iiullus in urbe locus, nulla emolumenta laborum,
res hodie minor est here quam fuit atque eadem eras
deteret exiguis aliquid, proponimus illuc
ire, fatigatas ubi Daedalus exuit alas, 25
dum nova canities, dum prima et recta senectus,
dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat et pedibus me
porto meis nullo dextram subeunte bacillo.
cedamus patria. vivant Artorius istic
1 praestantius p<|/ : presentius Vind. ^^
1 A small island off Misenum.
8 The noisiest street in Rome.
3 The Porta Capena was on the Appian Way, the great
S. road from Rome. Over the gate passed an aqueduct,
32
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
gate of Baiae, a sweet retreat upon a pleasant shore ; I
myself would prefer even Prochyta1 to the Saburra !2
EoiUvhere has one ever seen a place so dismal and
soioaslvthat one would not deem it worse to live
ijLJZerrjetual dread oTTires and falling houses, and
the tliouganfr perils of this terrible city, and p^t,
spouting in thp month nf A^tf i -— — - -
10 But while all his goods and chattels wereteing
packed upon a single wagon, my friend halted at
the dripping archway of the old Porta Capena.3 Here
Numa held his nightly assignations with his mis-
tress ; but now the holy fount and grove and^shrine
are let out to Jews, who possess a basket anclaSuss
of hay for all their furnishings. For as every tree
nowadays has to pay toll to the people, the Muses
have been ejected, and the wood has to go a-beggino-
We go down to the Valley of Egeria, and into the
caves so unlike to nature : how much more near to us
would be the spirit of the fountain if its waters were
fringed by a green border of grass, and there were
no marble to outrage the native tufa !
21 Here spoke Umbricius :— " Since there is no
room," quoth he, "for honest callings in this city, no
reward for labour ; since my means are less to-day
than they were yesterday, and to-morrow will rub
off something from the little that is left, I purpose
to go to the place where Daedalus put off his weary
wings while my white hairs are recent, while my old
age is erect and fresh, while Lachesis has something
left to spin, and I can support myself on my own
feet without slipping a staff beneath my hand. Fare-
well my country! Let Artorius live there, and
carrying the water of the Aqua Marcia. Hence " the drip-
ping archway."
33
IVVENALIS SATVRA III
et Catulus, maneant qui nigrum in Candida ver-
tunt, 30
quis facile est aedem conducere flumina portus,
siccandam eluviem, portandum ad busta cadaver,
et praebere caput domina venale sub hasta.
quondam hi cornicines et municipalis harenae
perpetui comites notaeque per oppida buccae 35
munera nunc edunt et, verso pollice vulgus
quem x iubet, occidunt populariter ; inde reversi
conducunt foricas, et cur non omnia, cum sint 2
quales ex humili magna ad fastigia rerum
extollit quotiens voluit Fortuna iocari ? 40
" Quid Romae faciam ? mentiri nescio ; librum,
si malus est, nequeo laudare et poscere ; motus
astrorum ignoro ; funus promittere patris
nee volo nee possum ; ranarum viscera numquam
inspexi ; ferre ad nuptam quae mittit adulter, 45
quae mandat, norunt alii ; me nemo ministro
fur erit, atque ideo nulli comes exeo tamquam
mancus et extinctae corpus non utile dextrae.
quis nunc diligitur nisi conscius et cui fervens
aestuat occultis animus semperque tacendis ?
nil tibi se debere putat, nil conferet umquam,
participem qui te secreti fecit honesti :
carus erit Verri qui Verrem tempore quo vult
50
quem ty : cum PAUBiich. and Housm.
Biich. punctuates et cur non? omnia cum sint.
i A spear was set up at auctions as the sign of ownership
34
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
Catulus; let those remain who turn black into
white, to whom it comes easy to take contracts for
temples, rivers or harbours, for cleansing drains or
carrying corpses to the pyre, or to put up slaves for
sale under the authority of the spear.' These men
once were horn-blowers, who went the round of
every provincial show, and whose puffed-out cheeks
were known in every village ; to-day they hold shows
ot their own, and win applause by slaying with a
turn or the thumb 2 whomsoever the mob bids them
slay; from that they go back to contract for cess-
pools, and why not for any kind of thing, seeing that
they are of the kind that Fortune raises from the
gutter to the mighty places of earth whenever she
wishes to enjoy a laugh ?
41 ".What ran I do at_Rome ? I cannot lie : if a
bookjs bad, I cannot praise it, and beg for a conv :
I am ignorant of the movements of the stars ; I can-
not, and will not, promise to a man his father's
death ; I have never examined the entrails of a froo- •
I must leave it to others to carry to a bride the
presents and messages of a paramour. No man will
get my help in robbery, and therefore no governor
will take me on his staff :1am treated as a m.nim^
-aiuLuseless trunk that has lost the pr^. rf ^
Uail£is Wpat. m^ w;„. fnV»„r nfnviH L|111L_J1L
be an accomplice— one whose sm.l g^fW -^ burn:
mfch secretariat must never be disclosed ? No one
who has imparted to you an innocent secret thinks
he owes you anything, or will ever bestow on you a
favour ; the man whom Verres loves is the man who
* Vertere pollicem., to turn the thumb up, was the signal
for dispatching the wounded gladiator ; premere pollicem, to
turn it down, was a sign that he was to be spared.
35
d 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA III
accusare potest, tanti tibi non sit opaci
omnis harena Tagi quodque in mare volvitur
aurum, ^5
ut somno careas ponendaque praemia sumas
tristis, et a magno semper timearis amico.
" Quae nunc divitibus gens acceptissima nostris
et quos praecipue fugiam, properabo fateri,
nee pudor opstabit. non possum ferre, Quirites, 60
Graecam urbem ; quamvis quota portio faecis Achaei ?
iam pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes,
et linguam et mores et cum tibicine chordas
obliquas nee non gentilia tympana secum
vexit et ad circum iussas prostare puellas. 65-
ite, quibus grata est picta lupa barbara mitra !
rusticus ille tuus sumit trechedipna, Quirine,
et ceromatico fert nicetei'ia collo.
hie alta Sicyone, ast hie Amydone relicta,
hie Andro, ille Sam'o, hie Trallibus aut Alabandis 70
Esquilias dictumque petunt a vimine collem,
viscera magnarum domuum dominique futuri.
ingenium velox, audacia perdita, sermo
promptus et Isaeo torrentior : ede quid ilium
esse putes ? quemvis hominem secum attulit ad
nos : _ ' ^
grammaticus rhetor geometres pictor aliptes
augur schoenobates medicus magus : omnia novit
Graeculus esuriens ; in caelum iusseris ibit.
i Referring to the sambuca, a kind of harp, of triangular
shape, producing a shrill sound.
2 Trechedipna, " a run-to-dinner coat"; ceromaticus, from
ceroma, oil used by wrestleis; and niceterium, "a prize of
victory "—all used to ridicule the use of the Greek forms.
8 i.e. the Mons Viminalis, from vimen, " an osier."
4 An Assyrian rhetorician : not the Greek orator Isaeus.
36
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
can impeach Verres at any moment that he chooses.
Ah ! Let not all the sands of the shaded Tagus, and
the gold which it rolls into the sea, be so precious in
your eyes that you should lose your sleep, and accept
gifts, to your sorrow, which you must one day lay
down, and be for ever a terror to your mighty friend !
58 « And now let me speak at once of the race
which is most dear to our rich men, and which I avoid
above all others ; no shyness shall stand in my way.
T r»aTlnnt- phirU, nm-rjtPfij a Rnmr of Greeks: and yet
what fraction of our dregs comes from Greece ? The
Syrian Orontes has long since poured into the Tiber,
bringing with it its lingo and its manners, its flutes
and its slanting harp-strings 1 ; bringing too the tim-
brels of the breed, and the trulls who are bidden ply
their trade at the Circus. Out upon you, all ye that
delight in foreign strumpets with painted head-
dresses ! Your country clown, Quirinus, now trips to
dinner in Greek-fangled slippers,2 and wears nieete-
rian 2 ornaments upon a ceromafic 2 neck ! One comes
from lofty Sicyon, another from Amydon or Andros,
others from Samos, Tralles or Alabanda ; all making
for the Esquiline, or for the hill that takes its name
from osier-beds 3 ; all ready to worm their way into
the houses of the great and become their masters.
Quick of wit and of unbounded impudence, they are
as ready of speech as Isaeus,4 and more torrential.
Say, what do you think that fellow there to be?
He has brought with him any character you please ;
grammarian, orator, geometrician; painter, trainer,'
or rope-dancer ; augur, doctor or astrologer :
' All sciences a fasting monsieur knows,
And bid him go to Hell, to Hell he goes ! ' 5
6 From Johnson's London.
37
IVVENALIS SATVRA III
in summa non Maurus erat neque Sarmata nee Thrax
qui sumpsit pinnas, mediis sed natus Athenis. 80
" Horum ego non fugiam conchylia ? me prior ille
signabit fultusque tovo meliore recumbet,
advectus Roraam quo prima et cottona vento ?
usque adeo nihil est, quod nostra infantia caelum
hausit Aventini baca nutrita Sabina ? 85
" Quid quod adulandi gens prudentissima laudat
sermonem indocti, faciem deformis amici,
et longum invalidi collum cervicibus aequat
Herculis Antaeum procul a tellure tenentis,
miratur vocem angustam, qua deterius nee 90
ille sonat quo mordetur gallina marito ?
haec eadem licet et nobis laudare, sed illis
creditur. an melior, cum Thaida sustinet aut cum
uxorem comoedus agit vel Dorida nullo
cultam palliolo ? mulier nempe ipsa videtur, 95
non persona, loqui ; vacua et plana omnia dicas
infra ventriculum et tenui distantia rima.
nee tamen Antiochus nee erit mirabilis iliic
aut Stratocles aut cum molli Demetrius Haemo :
natio comoeda est. rides, maiore cachinno 100
concutitur ; flet, si lacrimas conspexit amici,
nee dolet ; igniculum brumae si tempore poscas,
accipit endromidem ; si dixeris ( aestuo/ sudat.
non sumus ergo pares : melior, qui semper et omni
nocte dieque potest aliena sumere vultum 105
1 Daedalus.
2 Hercules slew Antaeus by raising him from the ground,
till when he was invincible. 3 Names of Greek actors.
38
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
In fine, the man who took to himself wings 1 was not
a Moor, nor a Sarmatian, nor a Thracian, but one
born in the very heart of Athens !
81 " Must I not make my escape from purple-clad
gentry like these ? Is a man to sign his name be-
fore me, and recline upon a couch above mine, who
has been wafted to Rome by the wind which brings
us our damsons and our figs ? Is it to go so utterly
for nothing that as a babe I drank in the air of the
Aventine, and was nurtured on the Sabine berry ?
S6 ' ' WJhatof this again, that these people are experts
in flattery, and will commend the talk of an illiterate,
or the beauty of a deformed, friend, and compare the
scraggy neck of some weakling to the brawny throat
of Hercules when holding up Antaeus2 from the
earth ; or go into ecstasies over a squeaky voice not
more melodious than that of a cock when he pecks his
spouse the hen ? We, no doubt, can praise the same
things that they do ; but what they say is believed.
Could any actor do better when he plays the part of
Thais, or of a matron, or of a Greek slave-girl without
her pallium ? You would never think that it was an
actor that was speaking, but a very woman, complete
in all her parts. Yet, in their own country, neither
Antiochus 3 nor Stratocles,3 neither Demetrius 3 nor
the delicate Haemus,3 will be applauded : they are a
.nation of play-actors. If you smile, your (ireek will
split his sides with laughter; if he sees his friend drop
a tear, he weeps, though without grieving ; if you call
for a bit of fire in winter-time, he puts on his cloak ;
if you say ' I am hot,' he breaks into a sweat. Thus
we are not upon a level, he and I ; he has always
the best of it, being ready at any moment, by night
or by day, to take his expression from another man's
39
IVVENALIS SATVRA III
a facie, iactare manus, laudare paratus,
si bene ructavit, si rectum minxit amicus,
si trulla inverso crepitum dedit aurea fundo.
" Praeterea sanctum nihil est neque l ab inguine
tutum,
non matrona laris, non filia virgo, neque ipse 110
sponsus levis adhuc, non Alius ante pudicus ;
horum si nihil est, aviam resupinat amici.
[scire volunt secreta domus atque inde timed.]
et quoniam coepit Graecorum mentio, transi
gymnasia atque audi facinus maioris abollae. 115
Stoicus occidit Baream delator aniicum
discipulumque senex, ripa nutritus in ilia,
ad quam Gorgonei delapsa est pinna caballi.
non est Romano cuiquam locus hie, ubi regnat
Protogenes aliquis vel Diphilus aut Hermarchus, 120
qui gentis vitio numquam partitur amicum,
solus habet. nam cum faeilem stillavit in aurem
exiguum de naturae patriaeque veneno,
limine summoveor, perierunt tempora longi
servitii ; nusquam minor est iactura clientis. 125
" Quod porro officium, ne nobis blandiar, aut quod
pauperis hie meritum, si curet nocte togatus
currere, cum praetor lictorem impellat et ire
praecipitem iubeat dudum vigilantibus orbis,
ne prior Albinam et Modiam collega salutet ? 130
1 P defective here. Most MSS. have aut for est. Housm.
reads aut tibi.
1 Publius Egnatius Celer. See Tac. Ann. xvi. 30-32 and
Hist. iv. 20 and 40.
40
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
face, to throw up his hands and applaud if his friend
spit or hiccup nicely, or if his golden basin make a
gurgle when turned upside down.
109 "Besides all this, there is nothing sacred to his.
Justs,: not the matron of the family, nor the maiden
daughter, not the as yet unbearded son-in-law to be,
not even the as yet unpolluted son ; if nnnp nf tl^^
b^Jtligre, he will debauch the pn^nrlmnthpy^TW^
men wantto discover the secrets of the family, and '
so make themselves fearecT Arid now that l"am
speaking of the Greeks, pass on to the schools, and
hear of a graver crime; the Stoic1 who informed
against and slew his own young friend and disciple 2
was born on that river bank3 whei*e the Gorgon's
winged steed fell to earth. No : there is no room
for any Roman here, where some Protogenes, or
Diphilus, or Hermarchus rules the roast — one who by
a defect of his race never shares a friend, but keeps
him all to himself. For when once he has dropped
into a facile ear one particle of his own and his
country's poison, I am thrust from the door, and all
my long years of servitude go for nothing. Nowhere
is it so easy as at Rome to throw an old client over-
board.
126 " A»d-b£s_ides, not to flatter ourselves, what,
value is there in a poor man's serving here in Rome,
even if he be at pains to hurry along in his toga
before daylight, seeing that the praetor is bidding
the lictor to go full speed lest his colleague should
be the first to salute the childless ladies Albina and
Modia, who have long ago been awake. Here in
2 For the accusation and death of Barea Soranus, see Tac.
Ann. xvi. 23 and 33.
* i.e. at Tarsus on the river Cydnua.
4i
IVVENALIS SATVRA III
divitis hie servo claudit latus ingenuorum
filivis ; alter enim quantum in legione tribuni
accipiunt donat Calvinae vel Catienae,
ut semel aut iterum super illam palpitet ; at tu,
cum tibi vestiti facies scorti placet, haeres 135
et dubitas alta Chionen deducere sella,
da testem Romae tam sanctum quam fuit hospes
numinis Idaei, procedat vel Numa vel qui
servavit trepidam flagranti ex aede Minervam :
protinus ad censum, de moribus ultima fiet 140
quaestio. ' quot pascit servos ? quot possidet agri
iugera ? quam multa magnaque paropside cenat ? '
quantum quisque sua nummorum servat in area,
tantum habet et fidei. iures licet et Samothracum
et nostrorum aras, contemnere fulmina pauper 145
creditur atque deos dis ignoscentibus ipsis.
" Quid quod materiam praebet causasque iocorum
omnibus hie idem, si foeda et scissa lacerna,
si toga sordidula est et rupta calceus alter
pelle patet, vel si consuto vulnere crassum 150
atque recens linum ostendit non una cicatrix ?
nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se,
quam quod ridiculos homines facit. ( exeat/ inquit,
f si pudor est, et de pulvino surgat equestri
cuius res legi non sufficit, et sedeant hie 155
lenonum pueri quocumque ex fornice nati ;
hie plaudat nitidi praeconis filius inter
1 Ladies of rank.
2 P. Cornelius Seipio received the image of Cybele when
brought from Phrygia, B.C. 204.
3 L. Caecilius Metellus, in B.C. 241.
42
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
Rome the son of free-born parents has to give the wall
to some rich man's slave ; for that other will give as
much as the whole pay of a legionary tribune to
enjoy the chance favours of a Calvina 1 or a Catiena,1
while you, when the face of some gay-decked harlot
takes your fancy, scarce venture to hand her down
from her lofty chair. At Rome you may pi-oduce a
witness as unimpeachable as the host of the Idaean
Goddess2 — Numa himself might present himself, or
he who rescued the trembling Minerva from the
blazing shrine 3 — the first question asked will be as
to his wealth, the last about his character: 'how
many slaves does he keep ? ' ' how many acres does
he own?' 'how big and how many are his dinner
dishes?' A man's word is believed in exact propor-
tion to t.ne amount nf casli_jviiieh^ ne keeps in his
strong box. Though he swear by all the altars of
Samothrace or of Rome, the poor man is believed to
care naught for Gods and thunderbolts, the Gods
themselves forgiving him.
147 "And what of this, that the poor man gives food
and occasion for jest if his cloak be torn and dirty ;
if his toga be a little soiled ; if one of his shoes
gapes where the leather is spli^or if some fresh
stitches of coarse thread reveal where not one, but
many a rent has been patched ? Of all the woes of
luckless poverty none is harder T?o"enclul'e than this,
that it exposesinejxj^ridicule: ' (Jut you go ! for
very shame,' says the marshal ; ' out of the Knights'
stalls, all of you whose means do not satisfy the law.'
Here let the sons of panders, born in any brothel,
take their seats ; here let the spruce son of an
auctioneer clap his hands, with the smart sons of a
gladiator on one side of him and the young gentle-
43
IVVENALIS SATVRA III
pinnirapi cultos iuvenes iuvenesque lanistae ' :
sic libitum vano, qui nos distinxit, Othoni.
quis gener hie placuit censu minor atque puellae 160
sarcinulis impar ? quis pauper scribitur heres ?
quando in consilio est aedilibus ? agmine facto
debuerant olim tenues migrasse Quirites.
" Haut facile emergunt quorum virtutibus opstat
res angusta domi, sed Romae durior illis 165
conatus : magno hospitium misei-abile, magno
servorum ventres, et frugi cenula magno.
fictilibus cenare pudet, quod turpe negabis
translatus subito ad Marsos mensamque Sabellam
contentusque illic Veneto duroque cucullo. 170
" Pars magna Italiae est, si verum admittimus,
in qua
nemo togam sumit nisi mortuus. ipsa dierum
festorum herboso colitur si quando theatro
maiestas tandemque redit ad pulpita notum
exodium, cum personae pallentis hiatum 175
in gremio matris formidat rusticus infans,
aequales habitus illic similesque videbis
orchestram et populum, clari velamen honoris
sufficiunt tunicae summis aedilibus albae.
hie ultra vires habitus nitor, hie aliquid plus 180
quam satis est interdum aliena sumitur area,
commune id vitium est, hie vivimus ambitiosa
paupertate omnes. quid te moror ? omnia Romae
cum pretio. quid das, ut Cossum aliquando salutes,
1 The law of Otho (b.c. 67) reserved for knights the first
fourteen rows in the theatre behind the orchestra where
senators sat. The knights (equites) were the wealthy
middle class, each having to possess a census of 400,000
sesterces.
44
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
men of a trainer on the other : such was the will of the
numskull Otho who assigned to each of us his
place.1 Who ever was approved as a son-in-law if he
was short of cash, and no match for the money-bags
of the young lady? What poor man ever gets a
legacy, or is appointed assessor to an aedile ? Romans
without money should have marched out in a body
long ago !
1(34 "J.t is no easy matter, anywhere, for a man to
rise when poverty stands 111 the way uf his merlEsT
but nowhere is the effort harder than in Rome,
where vou must pay a big rent for a wretched lodg-~
mg, a big sum to fill the bellies ot your slaves, and
buy a frugal dinner tor yourself You are ashamed to
dine off' dell'; but you would see no shame in it if
transported suddenly to a Marsian or Sabine table,
where you would be pleased enough to wear a cape
of coarse Venetian blue.
171 " There are many parts of Italy, to tell the truth,
in which no man puts on a toga until he is dead.
Even on days of festival, when a brave show is made
in a theatre of turf, and when the well-known farce
steps once more upon the boards ; when the rustic
babe on its mother's breast shrinks back affrighted
at the gaping of the pallid masks, you will see stalls
and populace all dressed alike, and the worshipful
aediles content with white tunics as vesture for then-
high office. ...In Rome, everyone dresses above his
means, and sometimes something mni-p th^n what is
enough is taken out of another man'g pm-Vet This
failing is universal heret^we all live in a state of
pretentious poverty. To put, it shortly, nothing ca*t-
lio-liar! in Rome for nothing. How much does it
cost you to be able now and then to make your bow
45
IVVENALIS SATVRA III
ut te respiciat clauso Veiento labello ? 185
ille metit barbam, crinem hie deponit amati ;
plena domus libis venalibus ; accipe, et istud
fermentum tibi habe : praestare tributa clientes
cogimur et cultis augere peculia servis.
" Quis timet aut timuit gelida Praeneste ruinam 190
aut positis nemorosa inter iuga Volsiniis aut
simplicibus Gabiis aut proni Tiburis arce ?
nos urbem colimus tenui tibicine fultam
magna parte sui ; nam sic labentibus obstat
vilicus et, veteris rimae cum texit hiatum, 195
securos pendente iubet dormire ruina.
vivendum est illic ubi nulla incendia, nulli
nocte metus. iam poscit aquam, iam irivola transfert
Vcalegon, tabulata tibi iam tertia fumant :
tu nescis ; nam si gradibus trepidatur ab imis, 200
ultimus ardebit quern tegula sola tuetur
a pluvia, molles ubi reddunt ova columbae.
lectus erat Codro Procula minor, urceoli sex
ornamentum abaci nee non et parvulus infra
cantharus etrecubans sub eodem marmore Chiron, 205
iamque vetus graecos servabat cista libellos
et divina opici rodebant carmina mures,
nil habuit Codrus, quis enim negat ? et tamen illud
1 The rendering is uncertain. Duff translates, "Take your
money and keep your cake."
2 At this feast cakes (liba) are provided ; but the guests
are expected to give a tip to the slaves. According to Duff,
the client pays the slave, but is too indignant to take the cake.
3 Lit. "a slender flute-player " ; props were so called either
from their resemblance to a flute, or to the position in which
the flute was held in playing.
46
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
to Cossus? Or to be vouchsafed one glance, with
lip firmly closed, from Veiento ? One of these great
men is cutting off* his beard ; another is dedicating
the locks of a favourite; the house is full of cakes —
which you will have to pay for. Take your cake,1
and let this thought rankle in your heart : we clients
are compelled to pay tribute and add to a sleek
menial's perquisites.2
100 « who at cool Praeneste, or at Volsinii amid its
leafy hills, was ever afraid of his house tumbling
down? Who in modest Gabii, or on the sloping
heights of Tivoli ? J3nt hei-p Wf> inl-mKit n rjty
supported for the most part by slender props : 3
for that is how the bailiff patches up the cracks
in the old wall, bidding the inmates sleep at ease
under a roof ready to tumble about their ears. No,
no, I must live where there are no fires, no nightly
alarms. Ucalegon4 below is already shouting far
water and shifting his chattels; smoke is pouring
out of your third-floor attic above, but you know
nothing of it ; for if the alarm begins in the ground-
floor, the last man to burn will be he who has nothing
to shelter him from the rain but the tiles, where the
gentle doves lay their eggs. Codrus possessed a bed
too small for the dwarf Procula, a marble slab adorned
by six pipkins, with a small drinking cup, and a
recumbent Chiron below, and an old chest containing
Greek books whose divine lays were being gnawed
by unlettered mice. Poor Codrus had nothing,
it is true : but he lost that nothing, which was his
4 Borrowed from Virgil, A en. ii. 311, of the firing of Troy,
iam pi-oximus ardet— Vcalegon. Juvenal's friend inhabits
the third floor, and the fire has broken out on the ground
floor.
47
IVVENALIS SATVRA III
perdidit infelix totum nihil, ultimus autem
aerumnae est cumulus, quod nudum et frusta ro-
gantem 210
nemo cibo, nemo hospitio tectoque iuvabit.
" Si magna Asturici cecidit domus, horrida mater,
pullati proccres, differt vadimonia praetor,
turn gemimus casus urbis, tunc odimus ignem.
ardet adhuc, et iam accurrit qui marmora donet, 215
conferat inpensas ; hie nuda et Candida signa,
hie aliquid praeclarum1 Euphranoris et Polycliti,
hie 2 Asianorum Vetera ornamenta deorum,
hie libros dabit et forulos mediamque Minervam,
hie modium argenti. meliora ac plura reponit 220
Persicus, orborum lautissimus et merito iam
suspectus tamquam ipse suas incenderit aedes.
" Si potes avelli circensibus, optima Sorae
aut Fabrateriae domus aut Frusinone paratur
quanti nunc tenebras unum conducis in annum. 225
hortulus hie puteusque brevis nee reste movendus
in tenuis plantas facili diffunditur haustu.
vive bidentis amans et culti vilicus horti,
unde epulum possis centum dare Pythagoreis.
est aliquid, quocumque loco, quocumque recessu 230
unius sese dominum fecisse lacertae.
" Plurimus hie aeger moritur vigilando (set ipsum
languorem peperit cibus inperfectus et haerens
ardenti stomacho), nam quae 3 meritoria somnum
1 praeclarum P : Housm. conj. praedarum.
2 hie conj. by Jahn and confirmed by 0 and Vind. : haec P
Btich.: Housm. conj. aera.
3 Housm. adopts the conj. quern (Hadr. Valesius) : quae
PALO.
48
JtJVENAL, SATIRE III
all ; and the last straw in his heap of misery is this,
that though heis destitute and begging for a hit*/
JiD_iffie_willheTp~him with a meal, no one offbrhim
board orshelter: — "
'""BjuLiLthe grand house of Asturicus be de-
stroyed, the matrons go dishevelled, your great men
put on mourning, the praetor adjourns his court:
then indeed do we deplore the calamities of the city,
and bewail jtsjires \ before the house has ceased'
to burn, up comes one with a gift of marble or of
building materials, another offers nude and glisten-
ing statues, a third some notable work of Euphranor
or Polyclitus,1 or bronzes that had been the glory of
old Asian shrines. Others will offer books and book-
cases, or a bust of Minerva, or a hundredweight of
silver-plate. Thus does Persicus, that most sumptu-
ous of childless men, replace what he has lost with
more and better things, and with good reason incurs
the suspicion of having set his own house on fire.
223 "If you can tear yourself away from the games
of the Circus, jlqu_ can buy an excellent house at
Sora, at Fabrateria or Frusino, for what you now pay
in Rome to rent a dark garret tor one year. And
you will there have a little garden, with a shallow
well from which you can easily draw water, without
need of a rope, to bedew your weakly plants. There
make your abode, mattock in hand, tending a trim
garden fit to feast a hundred Pythagoreans.2 It
is something, in whatever spot, however remote, to
have become the possessor of a single lizard !
2^2 " Most sick people here in Rome perish for want
olsleep, the illness itself having been produced by
food lying undigested on a fevered stomach. For
1 Celebrated Greek sculptors. J i.e. vegetarians.
49
E
IVVENALIS SATVRA III
admittunt ? magnis opibus dormitur in urbe. 235
inde caput morbi. raedarum transitus arto
vicorum in flexu 1 et stantis convicia mandrae
eripient somnum Druso vitulisque marinis.
si vocat officium, turba cedente vehetur
dives et ingenti curret super ora Liburna 240
atque obiter leget aut scribet vel dormiet intus ;
namque facit somnum clausa lectica fenestra,
ante tamen veniet : nobis properantibus opstat
unda prior, magno populus premit agmine lunibos
qui sequitur ; ferit hie cubito, ferit assere duro 245
alter, at hie tignum capiti incutit, ille metretam.
pinguia crura luto, planta mox undique magna
calcor, et in digito clavus mihi militis haeret.
" Nonne vides quanto celebretur sportula fumo?
centum convivae, sequitur sua quemque culina. 250
Corbulo vix ferret tot vasa ingentia, tot res
inpositas capiti, quas recto vertice portat
servulus infelix et cursu ventilat ignem.
scinduntur tunicae sartae modo, longa coruscat
serraco veniente abies, atque altera pinum 255
plaustra vehunt ; nutant alte populoque minantur.
nam si procubuit qui saxa Ligustica portat
axis et eversum fudit super agmina montem,
quid superest de corporibus ? quis membra, quis ossa
1 Biich. and Owen read inflexu, after PVind.tf*: Hqusui.
in flexu. See Journal of Phil. No. 67, p. 40.
1 Probably the somnolent Emperor Claudius is meant.
s The hundred guests are clients ; each is followed by a
slave carrying a kitchener to keep the dole hot when received.
5°
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
what sleep is possible in a lodging ? Who but the
wealthy get sleep in Rome ? There lies the root of
the disorder. The crossing of wagons in the narrow
winding streets, the slanging of drovers when brought
to a stand, would make sleep impossible for a Drusus 1
—or a sea-calf. When the rich man has a call of
social duty, the mob makes way for him as he is
borne swiftly over their heads in a huge Liburnian
car. He writes or reads or sleeps as he goes
along, for the closed window of the litter induces
slumber. Yet he will arrive before us ; hurry as we
may, we are blocked by a surging crowd in front,
and by a dense mass of people pressing in on us
from behind : one man digs an elbow into me,
another a sedan-pole; one bangs a beam, another
a wine-cask, against my head. My legs are be-
plastered with mud ; huge feet trample on me from
every side, and a soldier plants his hobnails firmly
on my toe.
249 " See now the smoke rising from that crowd
which hurries for the daily dole : there are a hundred
guests, each followed by a kitchener of his own.2
Corbulo 3 himself could scarce bear the weight of all
the big vessels and other gear which that poor little
slave is carrying with head erect, fanning the flame
as he runs along. Newly-patched tunics are torn
in two ; up comes a huge log swaying on a wagon,
and then a second dray carrying a whole pine-tree,
towering aloft and threatening the people. For if
that axle with its load of Ligurian marble breaks
down, and pours its spilt contents on to the crowd,
what is left of their bodies ? Who can identify the
3 The great Roman general under Claudius and Nero,
famed for his physical strength.
5'
E 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA III
invenit ? obtritum vulgi perit omne cadaver 260
more animae. domus interea secura patellas
iam lavat et bucca foculum excitat et sonat unctis
striglibus et pleno componit lintea guto.
haec inter pueros varie properantur., at ille
iam sedet in ripa taetrumque novicius horret, 265
porthmea nee sperat caenosi gurgitis alnum
infelix nee habet quem porrigat ore trientem.
" Respice nunc alia ac diversa pericula noctis :
quod spatium tectis sublimibus unde cerebrum
testa ferity quotiens rimosa et curta fenestris 270
vasa cadant, quanto percussum pondere signent
et laedant silicem. possis ignavus haberi
et subiti casus inprovidus, ad cenam si
intestatus eas : adeo tot fata, quot ilia
nocte patent vigiles te praetereunte fenestrae. 275
ergo optes votumque feras miserabile tecum,
ut sint contentae patulas defundere pelves.
" Ebrius ac petulans, qui nullum forte cecidit,
dat poenas, noctem patitur lugentis amicum
Pelidae, cubat in faciem, mox deinde supinus ; 280
[ergo non aliter poterit dormire : quibusdam]
somnum rixa facit. sed quamvis improbus annis
atque mero fervens, cavet hunc, quem coccina laena
vitari iubet et comitum longissimus ordo,
multum praeterea flammarum et aenea lampas ; 285
52
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
limbs, who the bones? The poor man's crushed
corpse disappears, just like his soul. At home mean-
while the folk, unwitting, are washing the dishes
blowing up the fire with distended cheek, clattering
over the greasy flesh-scrapers, filling the oil-flasks
and laying out the towels. And while each of them
is thus busy over his own task, their master is already
sitting, a new arrival, upon the bank, and shuddering
at the grim ferryman : he has no copper in his mouth
to tender for his fare, and no hope of a passage over
the murky flood.
268 "And_jiow regard the different and diverse
perils_fl,f the night. See what a height it is to that
towering roof from which a potsherd comes crack
upon my head every time that some broken or leaky
vessel is pitched out of the window ! See with what
a smash it strikes and dints the pavement ! There's
death in every open window as you pass" aIong~at~
night; you may well be deemed a fool, improvident
of sudden accident, if you go out to dinner without
having made your will. You can but hope, and put
up a piteous prayer in your heart, that they may be
content to pour down on you the contents of their
slop-pails !
27S u Your drunken bully who has by chance not
slain his man passes a night of torture like that of
Achilles when he bemoaned bis friend, lying now
upon his face, and now upon his back ; he will get
no rest in any other way, since some men can only
sleep after a brawl. Yet however reckless the fellow
may be, however hot with wine and young blood, he
gives a wide berth to one whose scarlet cloak and long
retinue of attendants, with torches and brass lamps
in their hands, bid him keep his distance. But to me,
53
IVVENALIS SATVRA III .
me, quern luna solet deducere vel breve lumen
candelae, cuius dispenso et tempero filum,
contemnit. miserae cognosce prohoemia rixae,
si rixa est, ubi tu pulsas, ego vapulo tantum.
stat contra starique iubet : parere necesse est ; 290
nam quid agas, cum te furiosus cogat et idem
fortior ? ' unde venis ? ', exclamat, ' cuius aceto,
cuius conche tumes ? quis tecum sectile porrum
sutor et elixi vervecis labra comedit ?
nil mihi respondes ? aut die aut accipe calcem. 295
ede ubi consistas ; in qua te quaero proseucha ? '
dicere si temptes aliquid tacitusve recedas,
tantumdem est : feriunt pariter, vadimonia deinde
irati faciunt. libertas pauperis haec est :
pulsatus rogat et pugnis concisus adorat 300
ut liceat paucis cum dentibus inde reverti.
" Nee tamen haec tantum metuas. nam qui
spoliet te
non derit clausis domibus, postquam omnis ubique
fixa catenatae siluit compago tabernae.
interdum et ferro subitus grassator agit rem ; 305
armato quotiens tutae custode tenentur
et Pomptina palus et Gallinaria pinus,
sic inde hue omnes tamquam ad vivaria currunt
qua fornace graves, qua non incude catenae ?
maximus in vinclis ferri modus, ut timeas ne 310
vomer deficiat, ne marrae et sarcula desint.
felices proavorum atavos, felicia dicas
54
JUVENAL, SATIRE III
who am wont to be escorted home by the moon,
or by the scant light of a candle whose wick I hus-
band with due care, he pays no respect. Hear how
the wretched fray begins — if fray it can be called
when you do all the thrashing and I get all the blows !
The fellow stands up against me, and bids me halt ;
obey I must. What else can you do when attacked by
a madman stronger than yourself? 'Where are you
from?' shouts he ; 'whose swipes, whose beans have
blown you out ? With what cobbler have you been
munching cut leeks x and boiled sheep's head ? —
What, sirrah, no answer? Speak out, or take that
upon your shins ! Where is your stand ? In what
prayer-shop 2 shall I find you ? ' Whether you venture
to say anything, or make off silently, it's all one : he
will thrash you just the same, and then, in a rage,
take bail from you. Such is the liberty nf the poor
man : having been pounded and cuffed into a jelly-
he begs and prays to be allowed to return home
Jyith a few teeth in hjfi bend I-
302 cc Nor are these your only terrors. -When your
lionse is shut, when bar and chain have made fast
.your shop, and all is silent, you will be robbed by
a^ burglar ; or perhaps a cut-throat will do for you
quickly with cold steeL For whenever the Pontine
marshes and the Gallinarian forest are secured by an
armed guard, all that tribe flocks into Rome as into
a fish-preserve. What furnaces, what anvils, are not
groaning with the forging of chains ? That is how
our iron is mostly used ; and you may well fear that
ere long none will be left for plough-shares, none for
hoes and mattocks. Happy were the forbears of our
1 See note on xiv. 133.
: Proseucha, a Jewish synagogue or praying-house.
55
IVVENALIS SATVRA IV
saecula quae quondam sub regibus atque tribunis
viderunt uno contentam carcere Romam.
"His alias poteram et pluris subnectere causas ; 315
sed iumenta vocant et sol inclinat, eundum est ;
nam mihi commota iam dudum mulio virga
adnuit. ergo vale nostri memor, et quotiens te
Roma tuo refici properantem reddet Aquino,
me quoque ad Helvinam Cererem vestramque
Dianam 320
converte a Cumis. saturarum ego, ni pudet Mas,
auditor1 gelidos veniam caligatus in agros."
SATVRA IV
Ecce iteru'm Crispinus, et est mihi saepe vocandus
ad partes, monstrum nulla virtute redemptum
a vitiis, aegrae solaque libidine fortes
deliciae ; viduas tantum aspernatur 2 adulter,
quid refert igitur, quantis iumenta fatiget 5
porticibus, quanta nemorum vectetur in umbra,
iugera quot vicina foro, quas emerit aedes ?
nemo malus felix, minime 3 corrupter et idem
incestus, cum quo nuper vittata iacebat
sanguine adhuc vivo terram subitura sacerdos. 10
1 auditor PVind.Biich. (1910): adiutor fBiich. (1893).
2 aspernatur \p : aspernatus Vind. etc. and Housm • seer-
naturTSA. '
3 minime PVind.if/ : quin ait 2 : Housm. conj. qum sit.
56
JUVENAL, SATIRE IV
great-grandfathers, happy the days of old which
under Kings and Tribunes beheld Rome satisfied
with a single gaol !
315 " To these I might add more anrj different yen
sons ; but my cattle call, the sun is sloping and I
.must a wax* rcyy muleteer has long been signalling to
me with his whip. And so farewell ; forget me not.
And if ever you run over from Rome to your own
Aquinum 1 to recruit, summon me too from Cumae
to your Helvine2 Ceres and Diana; I will come
over to your cold country in my thick boots to
hear your Satires, if they think me worthy of that
honour."
SATIRE IV
A Tale of a Turbot
Crispinus^ once again ! a man whom I shall often
have to call on to the scene, a prodigy of wickedness
without one redeeming virtue ; a sickly libertine,
strong only in his lusts, which scorn none save the
unweddeJ. — What mallets it then huw apacious aic~
the colonnades which tire out his horses, how large
the shady groves in which he drives, how many acres
near the Forum, how many palaces, he has bought ?
No bad man can be happy : least of all the in-
cestuous seducer wilh whCm lately lay a filleted 3
priestess, doomed to pass beneath the earth with
the blood still warm within her veins.
1 Aquinum was Juvenal's birthplace.
2 The origin of this name of Ceres is unknown.
3 The vitta, or fillet, was worn round the hair by Vestal
Virgins.
57
IVVENALIS SATVRA IV
Sed nunc de factis levioribus. et tamen alter
si fecisset idem, caderet sub iudice morum ;
nam quod turpe bonis Titio Seioque, decebat
Crispinum : quid agas, cum dira et foedior omni
crimine persona est? mullum sex milibus emit, 15
aequantem sane paribus sestertia libris,
ut perhibent qui de magnis maiora loquuntur.
consilium laudo artificis, si munere tanto
praecipuam in tabulis ceram senis abstulit orbi ;
est ratio ulterior, magnae si misit amicae, 20
quae vehitur clauso latis specularibus antro.
nil tale expectes : emit sibi. multa videmus
quae miser et fVugi non fecit Apicius ; hoc tu,
succinctus patria quondam, Crispine, papyro ?
hoc pretio squamas 1 ? potuit fortasse minoris 25
piscator quam piscis emi ; provincia tanti
vendit agros, sed maiores Apulia vendit.
qualis tunc epulas ipsum gluttisse putamus
induperatorem, cum tot sestertia, partem
exiguam et modicae sumptam de margine cenae, 30
purpureus magni ructarit scurra Palati,
iam princeps equitum, magna qui voce solebat
vendere municipes fracta de merce siluros ?
incipe, Calliope, licet et considere, non est
cantandum, res vera agitur. narrate, puellae 35
Pierides ; prosit mihi vos dixisse puellas.
1 P<has squamae. So Biich.
1 A celebrated gourmand.
58
JUVENAL, SATIRE IV
11 To-day I shall tell of a less heinous deed, though
had any other man done the like, he would fall
under the censor's lash : for what would be shameful
in good men like Seius or Teius sat gracefully on
Crispinus. What can you do when the man himself
is more foul and monstrous than any charge you can
bnng against him ? Crispinus bought a mullet for
six thousand sesterces — one thousand sesterces for
every pound of fish, as those would say who make
big things bigger in the telling of them. I could
commend the man's cunning if by such a lordly gift
hXsecured the first plare in the will of some ohi]d
lp^g n]fl nr.^ orr better still sent it to some great
lady who rides in a close, broad-windowed litter.
Bgt nothing of the sort; he bought it for himself:
we see many a thing done nowadays which poor
niggardly Apicius l never did. What ? Did you,
Crispinus — you who once wore a strip of your native
papyrus round your loins — give that price for a fish ?
A_jjnce_bigger than you need have paid for the
j^erman hiimselTfa' price tor which you might buy
a whole estate in some province, or a still larger one
in Apulia. What kind of feasts are we to suppose
were guzzled by our Emperor himself when all those
thousands of sesterces — forming a small fraction, a
mere side-dish of a modest entertainment — were
belched up by a purple-clad parasite of the august
Palace — one who is now Chief of the Knights, and
who once used to hawk, at the top of his voice, a
broken lot of his fellow-countrymen the sprats?
Begin, Calliope ! let us take our seats. This is no
mere fable, but a true tale that is being told ; tell it
forth, ye maidens of Pieria, and let it profit me that
I have called you maids !
59
IVVENALIS SATVRA IV
Cum iam semianimum laceraret Flavius orbem
ultimus et calvo serviret Roma Neroni,
incidit Hadriaci spatium admirabile rhombi
ante domum Veneris, quam Dorica sustinet Ancon, 40
implevitque sinus ; nee enim minor haeserat illis
quos operit glacies Maeotica ruptaque tandem
solibus effundit torrentis ad ostia Ponti
desidia tardos et longo frigore pingues.
destinat hoc monstrum cumbae linique magister 45
pontifici summo. quis enim proponere talem
aut emere auderet, cum plena et litora multo
delatore forent ? dispersi protinus algae
inquisitores agerent cum remige nudo
non dubitaturi fugitivum dicere piscem 50
depastumque diu vivaria Caesaris, inde
elapsum veterem ad dominum debere reverti.
si quid Palfurio, si credimus Armillato,
quidquid conspicuum pulchrumque est aequore toto,
res fisci est, ubicumque natat. donabitur ergo, 55
ne pereat.
Iam letifero cedente pruinis
autumno, iam quartanam sperantibus aegris
stridebat deformis hiems praedamque recentem
servabat. tamen hie properat, velut urgueat Auster.
utque lacus suberant, ubi quamquam diruta servat 60
ignem Troianum et Vestam colit Alba minorem,
obstitit intranti miratrix turba parumper.
ut cessit, facili patuerunt cardine valvae ;
1 i.e. the emperor Domitian.
2 The Pontifex Maximus, i.e. Domitian himself.
3 These were two lawyers.
6o
JUVENAL, SATIRE IV
37 What time the last of the Flavii was flaying the
half-dying world, and Rome was enslaved to a bald-
headed Nerpj1 there fell into a net in the sea of
Hadria, in front of the shrine of Venus reared high
on Dorian Ancona^a turbot of wondrous "'^j filling
up all its meshes, — a fish no less huge than those
which the lake Maeotis conceals beneath the ice till
it is broken up by the sun, and then sends forth,
torpid through sloth and fattened by long cold, to
the mouths of the Pontic sea. This monster the
master of the boat and line designs for the High
Pontiff2 ; for who wonlrl rlqre to put up fnr rnln ny fr,
buy so big a fish in days when even the sea shores
w-ere crowded with informers ? The inspectors of
sea-weed would straightway have taken the law of
the poor fisherman, ready to affirm that the fish was
a run-away that had long feasted in Caesar's fish-
ponds ; escaped from thence, he must needs be
restored to his former master. For if Palfurius 3 is to
be believed, or Armillatus,3 every rare and beautiful
thing in the wide ocean, in whatever sea it swims,
belongs to the Imperial Treasury. The fish there-
fore, that it be not wasted, shall be. given ana gift
56 And now death-bearing Autumn was giving way
before the frosts, fevered patients were hoping for a
quartan,4 and bleak winter's blasts were keeping the
booty fresh ; yet on sped the fisherman as though
the South wind were at his heels. And when be-
neath him lay the lake where Alba, though in ruins,
still holds the Trojan fire and worships the lesser
Vesta,5 a wondering crowd barred his way for a while ;
as it gave way, the gates swung open on easy
4 i.e. a fever recurring every fourth day — an improvement
upon a " tertian," one recurring every third day.
6 i.e. as compared with the larger temple of Vesta in Rome.
6i
IVVENALIS SATVRA IV
exclusi spectant admissa obsonia patres.
itur ad Atriden. turn Picens "accipe," dixit, 65
" privatis maiora focis. genialis agatur
iste dies, propera stomachum laxare sagina,1
et tua servatum consume in saecula rhombum.
ipse capi voluit." quid apertius ? et tamen illi
surgebant cristae ; nihil est quod credere de se 70
non possit cum laudatur dis aequa potestas.
sed derat pisci patinae mensura. vocantur
ergo in consilium proceres, quos oderat ille,
in quorum facie miserae magnaeque sedebat
pallor amicitiae. primus clamante Liburno 75
" currite, iam sedit " rapta properabat abolla
Pegasus, attonitae positus modo vilicus urbi.
anne aliud turn praefecti ? quorum optimus atque
interpres legum sanctissimus omnia, quamquam 2
temporibus diris, tractanda putabat inermi 80
iustitia. venit et Crispi iucunda senectus,
cuius erant mores qualis facundia, mite
ingenium. maria ac terras populosque regenti
quis comes utilior, si clade et peste sub ilia
saevitiam damnare et honestum adferre liceret 85
consilium ? sed quid violentius aure tyranni,
cum quo de pluviis aut aestibus aut nimboso
vere locuturi fatum pendebat amici ?
ilia igitur numquam derexit bracehia contra
torrentem, nee civis erat qui libera posset 90
1 saginam PS : saginis i|> Vind.
2 quamquam Vind.^ : quamque P.
1 The Praefectus Urbi, under the Emperors, was the head
magistrate in Rome, and exercised many important functions.
62
JUVENAL, SATIRE IV
hinge, and the excluded Fathers gazed on the dish
that had gained an entrance. Admitted to the
Presence, "Receive," quoth he of Picenum, "a fish
too big for a private kitchen. Be this kept as a
festive day; hasten to fill out thy belly with good
things, andjdevour a turbot that has been preserved
to grace thy reign. The fish himself wanted to be
^caught. Could~Hattery~ be more^grosjs ? Ypt thi
Monai-ch's comb began to rise : there is nothing that
(Byrne Majesty will not believe concerning itself"
when lauded to the skiefl ! Rut, no-platter cuulcHre
ibund big enough for the fish ; so a council of mag-
nates is summoned : men hated by the Emperor,
and on whose faces sat the pallor of that great and
perilous friendship. First to answer the Ligurian's
call "Haste, haste! he is seated!" was J?egasus,
hastily catching up his cloak — he that hadnewly
been appointed as bailiff over the astonished city.
For what else but bailiffs were the Prefects1 of
those days? Of whom Pegasus was the best, and
the most righteous expounder of the law, though
he thought that even in those dread days there
should be no sword in the hand of Justice. Next
to come in was the aged, genial Crispus.2 whose
gentle soul well matched his style of eloquence.
No better adviser than he for the ruler of lands
and seas and nations had he been free, under that
scourge and plague, to denounce cruelties and proffer
honest counsels. Rm- wW <-an i^> mnrp danorprrmc
than the ear of a tyrant on whose caprice hangs the _
hfe of a friend who has come to talk of the rain or
l;he heat or the showery spring weather ? Ho Crispus
jtever struck uul agamsL the torrent, nor"was he one
2 Vibius Crispus ; see Tac. Hist. ii. 10.
63
IVVENALIS SATVRA IV
verba animi proferre et vitam inpendere vero.
sic multas hiemes atque octogensima vidit
solstitia, his armis ilia quoque tutus in aula.
Proximus eiusdem properabat Acilius aevi
cum iuvene indigno quern mors tarn saeva maneret 95
et domini gladiis tain festinata ; sed olim
prodigio par est in nobilitate senectus,
unde fit ut malim fraterculus esse gigantis.
profuit ergo nihil misero, quod comminus ursos
figebat Numidas Albana nudus harena 100
venator. quis enim iam non intellegat artes
patricias ? quis priscum illud miratur acumen,
Brute, tuum ? facile est barbato inponere regi.
Nee melior vultu quamvis ignobilis ibat
Rubrius, ofFensae veteris reus atque tacendae, 105
et tamen inprobior saturam scribente cinaedo.
Montani quoque venter adest abdomine tardus,
et matutino sudans Crispinus amomo
quantum vix redolent duo funera, saevior illo
Pompeius tenui iugulos aperire susurro, 110
et qui vulturibus servabat viscera Dacis
Fuscus marmorea meditatus proelia villa,
et cum mortifero prudens Veiento Catullo,
qui numquam visae flagrabat amore puellae,
1 Acilius Glabrio the younger was exiled, and afterwards
put to death by Domitian.
2 i.e. "son of a clod." Giants were supposed to be sprung
from earth {yriy(Vf7^).
5 Brutus feigned madness to elude the suspicion of Tarquin.
A simple "bearded " monarch was easily imposed upon.
4 Evidently an informer.
64
JUVENAL, SATIRE IV
-to^eaj^freely the thoughts of his heart, and stake
JlisJife~upon the truth. Thus was it that he lived
througFmany winters' and saw his eightieth solstice,
protected, even in that Court, by weapons such as
these.
H Next to him hurried _Acilius, of like age as
himself, and with him the youth1 who little merited
the cruel death that was so soon hurried on by his
master's sword, Butj^eWlU^ing rmd noble hie
Igng_since becomeaprodigy"; hence I would rather
Ug^a giant's * little brotner. Therefore it availed the
poorybuth nothing that he speared Numidian bears,
stripped as a huntsman upon the Alban arena. For
who nowadays would not see through patrician tricks ?
Who would now marvel, Brutus, at that old-world
cleverness of yours ? 3 'Tis an easy matter to befool
a king that wears a beard.
104 No more cheerful in face, though of ignoble
blood, came Rubrius. condemned long sinrp r>f a..
jrime that may not, be nimedj and yet more shame-
less than a reprobate who shnnH write ^"T There
too was present the unwieldy frame of tyLojaianus ;
and Crispinus., reeking at early dawn with odours
enough to out-scent two funerals ; more ruthless
than he Pompeius,4 whose gentle whisper would cut
men's throats ; and Fuscus,5 who planned battles in
his marble halls, keeping his flesh for the Dacian
vultures. Then along with the sage Veiento jCame
the death-dealing Catullus,6 who burnt with love for
a maiden whom he had never seen — a mighty and
5 Cornelius Fuscus, prefect of the Praetorian Guard. He
was killed in Domitian's Dacian wars, a.d. 8G-88.
6 Fabricius Veiento and Catullus Messalinus* informers
under Domitian.
65
1VVENALIS SATVRA IV
grande et conspicuum nostro quoque tempore
monstrum, 115
caecus adulator, dirusque a ponte satelles
dignus Aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes
blandaque devexae iactaret basia raedae.
nemo magis rhombum stupuit ; nam plurima dixit
in laevum conversus, at illi dextra iacebat 120
belua. sic pugnas Cilicis laudabat et ictus
et pegma et pueros inde ad velaria i-aptos.
Non cedit Veiento, set ut fanaticus oestro
percussus, Bellona, tuo divinat et " ingens
omen habes," inquit, "magni clarique triumphi. 125
regem aliquem capies, aut de temone Britanno
excidet Arviragus. peregrina est belua, cernis
erectas in l terga sudes ? " hoc defuit unum
Fabricio, patriam ut rhombi memoraret et annos.
" Quidnam igitur censes ? conciditur ? " " absit
ab illo 130
dedecus hoc," Montanus ait, " testa alta paretur,
quae tenui muro spatiosum colligat orbem.
debetur magnus patinae subitusque Prometheus,
argillam atque rotam citius properate ; sed ex hoc
tempore iam, Caesar, figuli tua castra sequantur." 135
vicit digna viro sententia. noverat ille
luxuriam inperii veterem noctesque Neronis
iam medias aliamque famem, cum pulmo Falerno
arderet. nulli maior fuit usus edendi
tempestate mea ; Circeis nata forent an 140
1 Housm. conj. per for in.
66
JUVENAL, SATIRE IV
notable marvel even in these days of ours: a blind
flatterer, a dire courtier from a beggar's stand, well
fitted to beg at the wheels of chariots and blow soft
kisses to them as they rolled down the Arician hill.
None marvelled more at the fish than he, turning to
the left as he spoke ; only, the creature happened to
be on his right. In like fashion would he commend
the thrusts of a Cilician gladiator, or the machine
which whisks up the boys into the awning.
123 But Veiento was not to be outdone ; and like
a seer inspired, O Bellona, by thine own gadfly, he
bursts into prophecy : "A mighty presage hast thou,
O Emperor! of a great and glorious victory. Some
King will be thy captive; or Arviragus * will be
hurled from his British chariot. The brute is foreio-n-
born : dost thou not see the prickles bristling upon
his back ? " Nothing remained for Fabricius but to
tell the turbot'sage~aTTd-bii-thijhiLL':
130 " What thenllo you adviie ? " quoth the Em-
peror. " Shall we cut it up ? " « Nay, nay," rejoins
Montanus ; "let that indignity be spared him. Let
a deep vessel be provided to gather his huge dimen-
sions within its slender walls ; some great and un-
foreseen Prometheus is destined for the dish ! Haste
haste, with clay and wheel ! but from this day forth'
O Caesar, let potters always attend upon thy camp ' "
Tju^jiroposal, so worthy of the man, gained the
°;iy- vVeTT known t0 him were the old debauches
Df Llie Impenal uourl, which NeFo carried on to
midnight ffity mund hunger came and veins were
healed witfr-htHy-^d-Cl'lliail. No one in my timp l>nr ~
nTore sjgftt-trrthe eating art than hP Hp^,H \r]]
at the first bite whether an oyster had been bred
1 A British prince, as in Cymhdine.
n 67
F 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA V
Lucrinum ad saxum Rutupinove edita fundo
ostrea callebat primo deprendere morsu,
et semel aspecti litus dicebat echini.
Surgitur et misso proceres exire iubentur
consilio, quos Albanam dux magnus in arcem 145
traxerat attonitos et festinare coactos
tamquam de Chattis aliquid torvisque Sycambris
dicturus, tamquam ex diversis pai-tibus orbis
anxia praecipiti venisset epistula pinna.
Atque utinam his potius nugis tota ilia de-
disset 150
tempora saevitiae, claras quibus abstulit urbi
inlustresque animas impune et vindice nullo.
sed periit postquam cerdonibus esse timendus
coeperat ; hoc nocuit Lamiarum caede madenti.
SATVRA V
Si te propositi nondum pudet atque eadem est
mens,
ut bona summa putes aliena vivere quadra ;
si potes ilia pati quae nee Sarmentus iniquas
Caesaris ad mensas nee vilis Gabba tulisset,
quamvis iurato metuam tibi credere testi.
ventre nihil novi frugalius ; hoc tamen ipsum
1 Riehborough.
2 The Chatti and the Sycambri were two of the most
powerful German tribes, between the Rhine and the Weser.
3 Taken as a type of the ancient noble families of Rome.
68
JUVENAL, SATIRE V
at Circeii, or on the Lucrine rocks, or on the beds of
Rutupiae;1 one glance would tell him the native
shore of a sea-urchin.
144 The Council rises, and the councillors are dis-
missed : men whom the mighty Emperor had dragged
in terror and hot haste to his Alban castle, as though
to give them news of the Chatti, or the savage
Sycambri,2 or as though an alarming despatch had
arrived on wings of speed from some remote quarter
of the earth.
150 And yet would that he had rather given to follies
such as these all those days of cruelty when he
robbed the city of its noblest and choicest souls, with
none to punish or avenge ! He could steep himself in
the blood of the Lamiae ; 3_hut when nnophpW^
ajterror to the common herd he met his doom.4
SATIRE V
How Clients are Entertained
If you are still unashamed of your plan of life, and
still deem it to be the highest bliss to live at another
man's board— if you can brook indignities which
neither Sarmentus nor the despicable Gabba5 would
have endured at Caesar's ill-assorted table— I should
refuse to believe your testimony, even upon oath. I
know of nothing so easily satisfied as the belly ; but
even granted that you have nothing wherewith to
* Domitian was murdered, as the outcome of a conspiracy
by the hand of a freedman, Stephanus, on September 18
A. D. yo. '
6 Sarmentus and Gabba are representatives of the lowesl
parasite class.
69
IVVENALIS SATVRA V
defecisse puta, quod inani sufficit alvo :
nulla crepido vacat ? nusquam pons et tegetis pars
dimidia brevior ? tantine iniuria cenae,
tam ieiuna fames, cum possit honestius illic 10
et tremere et sordes farris mordere canini ?
Primo fige loco, quod tu discumbere iussus
mercedem solidam veterum capis officiorum.
fructus amicitiae magnae cibus ; inputat hunc rex,
et quamvis rarum tamen inputat. ergo duos post 15
si libuit menses neglectum adhibere clientem,
tertia ne vacuo cessaret culcita lecto,,
"una simus/' ait. votorum summa ! quid ultra
quaeris? habet Trebius propter quod rumpere
somnum
debeat et ligulas dimittere, sollicitus ne 20
tota salutatrix iam turba peregerit orbem,
sideribus dubiis aut illo tempore quo se
frigida circumagunt pigri serraca Bootae.
Qualis cena tamen ! vinum quod sucida nolit
lana pati : de conviva Corybanta videbis. 25
iurgia proludunt, sed mox et pocula torques
saucius et rubra deterges vulnera mappa,
inter vos quotiens libertorumque cohortem
pugna Saguntina fervet commissa lagona.
1 i.e. the least honourable place on the least honourable of
the three couches of the triclinium.
2 The name of the client whom he is addressing.
7o
JUVENAL, SATIRE V
fill its emptiness, is there no quay vacant, no bridge ?
Can you find no fraction of a beggar's mat to stand
upon ? Is a dinner worth all the insults with which
you have to pay for it ? Is your hunger so im-
portunate, when it might, with greater dignity, be
shivering where you are, and munching dirty scraps
of dog's bread ?
12 First of all be sure of this — that when bidden to
dinner, you receive payment in full for all your past
services. A meal is the return which your grand
friendship yields you ; the great man scores it against
you, and though it come but seldom, he scores it
against you all the same. So if after a couple of
months it is his pleasure to invite his forgotten
client, lest the third place on the lowest couch1
should be unoccupied, and he says to you, " Come
and dine with me," you are in the seventh Heaven !
what more can you desire ? Now at last has Trebius 2
got the reward for which he must needs cut short
his sleep, and hurry with shoe-strings untied, fearing
that the whole crowd of callers may already have
gone their rounds, at an hour when the stars are
fading or when the chilly wain of Bootes is wheeling
slowly round.
24 And what a dinner after all ! You are given wine
that fresh-clipped wool would refuse to suck up,3 and
which soon converts your revellers into Cory bants.
Foul words are the prelude to the fray ; but before
long tankards will be flying about ; a battle royal
with Saguntine crockery will soon be raging between
you and the company of freedmen, and you will be
staunching your wounds with a blood-stained napkin.
3 i.e. the wine was not good enough to be used even for
fomentations.
IVVENALIS SATVRA V
ipse capillato diffusum consule potat, 30
calcatamque tenet bellis socialibus uvam,
cardiaco numquam cyathum missurus amico ;
eras bibet Albanis aliquid de montibus aut de
Setinis, cuius patriam titulumque seneetus
delevit multa veteris fuligine testae, 35
quale coronati Thrasea Helvidiusque bibebant
Brutorum et Cassi natalibus.
Ipse capaces
Heliadum crustas et inaequales berullo
Virro tenet phialas : tibi non committitur aurum,
vel si quando datur, custos adfixus ibidem, 40
qui nuineret gemmas, ungues observet acutos.
da veniam, praeclara illi x laudatur iaspis ;
nam Virro, ut multi, gemmas ad pocula transfert
a digitis, quas in vaginae fronte solebat
ponere zelotypo iuvenis praelatus Iarbae. 45
tu Beneventani sutoris nomen habentem
siccabis ealicem 'nasorum quattuor ac iam
quassatum et rupto poscentem sulpura vitro.
Si stomachus domini fervet vinoque ciboque,
frigidior Geticis petitur decocta pruinis. 50
non eadem vobis poni modo vina querebar :
vos aliam potatis aquam. tibi pocula cursor
Gaetulus dabit aut nigri manus ossea Mauri
et cui per mediam nolis occurrere noctem,
clivosae veheris dum per monumenta Latinae : 55
1 illic \f*.
1 The Social Wars, after which the Italians gained the
Roman franchise, were fought between B.C. 91 and 88.
2 Two famous Stoics whose outspoken freedom cost them
their lives under Nero and Vespasian respectively.
3 The patron who gives the dinner.
72
JUVENAL, SATIRE V
The great man himself drinks wine bottled in the
days when Consuls wore long hair ; the juice which
he holds in his hand was squeezed during the Social
Wars/ but never a glass of it will he send to a friend
suffering from dyspepsia ! To-morrow he will drink
a vintage from the hills of Alba or Setia whose date
and name have been effaced by the soot which
time has gathered upon the aged jar — such wine as
Thrasea 2 and Helvidius 2 used to drink with chaplets
on their heads upon the birthdays of Cassius and the
Bruti.
37 The cup in Virro's 3 hands is richly crusted with
amber and rough with beryl : to you no gold is en-
trusted ; or if it is, a watcher is posted over it to
count the gems and keep an eye on your sharp
finger-nails. Pardon his anxiety ; that fine jasper of
his is much admired ! For Virro, like so many others,
transfers from his fingers to his cups the jewels with
which the youth 4 preferred to the jealous Iarbas used
to adorn his scabbard. To you will be given a
cracked cup with four nozzles that takes its name
from a Beneventine cobbler,5 and calls for sulphur
wherewith to repair its broken glass.
49 If my lord's stomach is fevered with food and
wine, a decoction colder than Thracian hoar-frosts
will be brought to him. Did I complain just now
that you were given a different wine? Why, the
water which you clients drink is not the same. It will
be handed to you by a Gaetulian groom, or by the bony
hand of a blackamoor whom you would rather not
meet at midnight when driving past the monuments
on the hilly Latin Way. Before mine host stands the
4 Aeneas. A en. iv. 36.
5 Vatinius, a man with a long nose.
73
IVVENALIS SATVRA V
flos Asiae ante ipsum, pretio maiore paratus
quam fuit et Tulli census pugnacis et Anci
et, ne te teneam, Romanorum omnia regum
frivola. quod cum ita sit, tu Gaetulum Ganymedem
respice, cum sities. nescit tot milibus emptus 60
pauperibus miscere puer ; set forma, set aetas
digna supercilio. quando ad te pervenit ille ?
quando rogatus adest calidae gelidaeque minister ?
quippe indignatur veteri parere clienti,
quodque aliquid poscas et quod se stante recumbas. 65
[maxima quaeque domus servis est plena superbis.]
ecce alius quanto porrexit murmure panem
vix fractum, solidae iam mucida frusta farinae,
quae genuinum agitent, non admittentia morsum ;
sed tener et niveus mollique siligine fictus 70
servatur domino, dextram coliibere memento,
salva sit artoptae reverentia. finge tamen te
inprobulum, superest illic qui ponere cogat :
" vis tu consuetis, audax conviva, canistris
impleri panisque tui novisse colorem ? " 75
" scilicet hoc fuerat, propter quod saepe relicta
coniuge per montem adversum gelidasque cucurri
Esquilias, fremeret saeva cum grandine vernus
Iuppiter et multo stillaret paenula nimbo."
Aspice quam longo distinguat J pectore lancem 80
quae fertur domino squilla, et quibus undique saepta
asparagis qua despiciat convivia cauda,
1 distinguat P Vind. : diatendat *//.
74
JUVENAL, SATIRE V
very pink of Asia, a youth bought for a sum bigger
than the entire fortune of the warlike Tullus or
Ancus, more valuable, in short, than all the chattels
of all the kings of Rome. That being so, when you
are thirsty look to your swarthy Ganymede. The
page who has cost so many thousands cannot mix a
drink for a poor man : but then his beauty, his
youth, justify his disdain ! When will he get as far
as you ? When does he listen to your request for
water, hot or cold ? It is beneath him to attend to
an old dependent ; he is indignant that you should
ask for anything, and that you should be seated
while he stands. All your great houses are full of
saucy slaves. See with what a grumble another of
them has handed you a bit of hard bread that you
can scarce break in two, or lumps of dough that
have turned mouldy — stuff that will exercise your
grinders and into which no tooth can gain admit-
tance. For Virro himself a delicate loaf is reserved,
white as snow, and kneaded of the finest flour. Be
sure to keep your hands off it : take no liberties with
the bread-basket ! If you are presumptuous enough
to take a piece, there will be someone to bid you put
it down : " What, Sir Impudence ? Will you please
fill yourself from your proper tray, and learn the
colour of your own bread?" "What?" you ask,
"was it for this that I would so often leave my wife's
side on a spring morning and hurry up the chilly
Esquiline when the spring skies were rattling down
the pitiless hail, and the rain was pouring in streams
off my cloak ? "
80 See now that huge lobster being served to my
lord, all garnished with asparagus ; see how his lordly
breast distinguishes the dish; with what a tail he
75
IVVENALIS SATVRA V
dum venit excelsi manibus sublata ministri.
set tibi dimidio constrictus cammarus ovo
ponitur exigua feralis cena patella. 85
ipse Venafrano piscem perfundit : at hie qui
pallidus adfertur misero tibi caulis olebit
lanternam ; illud enim vestris datur alveolis quod
canna Micipsarum prora subvexit acuta,
propter quod Romae cum Boccare nemo lavatur, 90
quod tutos etiam facit a serpentibus atris.1
Mullus erit domini, quern misit Corsica vel quem
Tauromenitanae rupes, quando omne peractum est
et iam defecit nostrum mare, dum gula saevit,
retibus adsiduis penitus scrutante macello 95
proxima, nee patimur Tyrrhenum crescere piscem.
instruit ergo focum provincia, sumitur illinc
quod captator emat Laenas, Aurelia vendat.
Virroni muraena datur, quae maxima venit
gurgite de Siculo ; nam dum se continet Auster, 100
dum sedet et siccat madidas in carcere pinnas,
contemnunt mediam temeraria lina Charybdim.
vos anguilla manet longae cognata colubrae,
aut glacie aspersus maculis Tiberinus, et ipse
vernula l'iparum, pinguis torrente cloaca 105
et solitus mediae cryptam penetrare Suburae.
Ipsi pauca velim, facilem si pi\aebeat aurem.
" nemo petit, modicis quae mittebantur amicis
1 This line and vi. 126 are the only two lines omitted by P
(excepting, of course, vi. 0 1-34).
1 Tauromenium, on the E. coast of Sicily.
2 Juvenal and other Roman writers are full of allusions to
captalores, legacy-hunters, who showered presents of all
76
JUVENAL, SATIRE V
looks down upon the company, borne aloft in the
hands of that tall attendant ! Before you is placed
on a tiny plate a crab hemmed in by half an egg — a
fit banquet for the dead. The host souses his fish in
Venafran oil ; the sickly greens offered to you, poor
devil, will smell of the lamp ; for the stuff contained
in your cruets was brought up the Tiber in a sharp-
prowed Numidian canoe — stuff which prevents
anyone at Rome sharing a bath with Bocchar, and
which will even protect you from a black serpent's
bite.
92 My lord will have a mullet dispatched from
Corsica or the Rocks of Tauromenium : l for in the
rage for gluttony our own seas have given out; the
nets of the fish-market are for ever raking our home
waters, and prevent Tyrrhenian fish from attaining
their full size. And so the Provinces supply our
kitchens; from the Provinces come the fish for the
legacy-hunter Laenas to buy, and for Aurelia to send
to market.2
99 Virro is served with a lamprey, the finest that
the Straits of Sicily can purvey ; for so long as the
South wind stays at home, and sits in his prison-
house drying his dank wings, Charybdis has no terrors
for the daring fisherman. For you is reserved an
eel, first cousin to a water-snake, or perchance a pike
mottled with ice-spots ; he too was bred on Tiber's
banks and was wont to find his way into the inmost
recesses of the Subura, battening himself amid its
flowing sewers.
107 And now one word with the great man himself,
if he will lend his ear. « No one asks of you such
kinds upon rich and childless old men or women. Aurelia
sells the fish she has received as a present from Laenas.
77
IVVENALIS SATVRA V
a Seneca, quae Piso bonus, quae Cotta solebat
largiri ; namque et titulis et fascibus olim 110
maior habebatur donandi gloria, solum
poscimus ut cenes civiliter. hoc face et esto,
estOj ut nunc multi, dives tibi, pauper amicis."
Anseris ante ipsum magni iecuv, anseribus par
altilis, et flavi dignus ferro Meleagri 115
spumat l aper. post hunc tradentur tubera, si ver
tunc erit et facient optata tonitrua cenas
maiores. " tibi babe frumentum," Alledius inquit,
"o Libye, disiunge boves, dum tubera mittas."
Structorem interea, nequa indignatio desit, 120
saltantem spectes et chironomunta volanti
cultello, donee peragat dictata magistri
omnia ; nee minimo sane discrimine refert,
quo gestu lepores et quo gallina secetur.
duceris planta velut ictus ab Hercule Cacus 125
et ponere foris, si quid temptaveris umquam
hiscere, tamquam habeas tria nomina. quando
propinat
Virro tibi, sumitve tuis contacta labellis
pocula ? quis vestrum temerarius usque adeo, quis
perditus, ut dicat regi " bibe " ? plurima sunt quae 130
non audent homines pertusa dicere laena.
quadringenta tibi si quis deus aut similis dis
1 spumat PSA : fumat \p.
1 The word civiliter, from which our word "civil" comes,
meant " as a citizen and an equal."
2 The Aetolian hero who slew the Calydonian boar.
3 Thunder was supposed to be favourable to the growth of
truffles.
78
JUVENAL, SATIRE V
Jordly gifts as Seneca, or the good Piso or Cotta,
used to send to their humble friends : for in the days
of old, the glory of giving was deemed grander than
titles or fasces. All we ask of you is that you should
dine with us as a fellow-citizen * : do this and remain,
like so many others nowadays, rich for yourself and
poor to your friends."
114 Before Virro is put a huge goose's liver; a
capon as big as a goose, and a boar, piping hot.
worthy of yellow-haired Meleager's 2 steel. Then
will come truffles, if it be spring-time and the longed-
for thunder have enlarged our dinners.3 " Keep your
corn to yourself, O Libya ! " says Alledius ; " unyoke
your oxen, if only you send us truffles ! "
120 During all this time, lest any occasion for disgust
should be wanting, you may behold the carver caper-
ing and gesticulating with knife in air, and carrying
out all the instructions of his preceptor : for it makes
a mighty difference with what gestures a hare or a
hen be carved ! If you ever dare to utter one word as
though you were possessed of three names,4 you will
be dragged by the heels and thrust out of doors as
Cacus was, after the drubbing he got from Hercules.
When will Virro offer to drink wine with you? or
take a cup that has been polluted by your lips?
Which one of you would be so foolhardy, so lost to
shame, as to say to your patron " A glass with you,
Sir " ? No, no : there's many a thing which a man
whose coat has holes in it cannot say ! But if some
God, or god-like manikin more kindly than the fates,
should present you with four hundred thousand
4 i.e. as if you were a free-born Roman with the three
necessary names— the praenomen, the nomen, and the cog-
nomen.
79
IVVENALIS SATVRA V
et melior fatis donaret homuncio, quantus,
ex nihilo, quantus fieres Virronis amicus !
"da Trebio, pone ad Trebium. vis, frater, ab ipsis 135
ilibus ? " o nummi, vobis liunc praestat honorem,
vos estis fratres. dominus tamen et domini rex
si vis tu fieri, null us tibi parvolus aula
luserit Aeneas nee filia dulcior illo ;
iucundum et carum sterilis facit uxor amicum. 140
sed tua nunc Mycale pariat licet et pueros tres
in gremium patris fundat semel, ipse loquaci
gaudebit nido, viridem tlioraca iubebit
adferri minimasque nuces assemque rogatum,
ad mensam quotiens parasitus venerit infans. 145
Vilibus ancipites fungi ponentur amicis,
boletus domino, set quales Claudius edit
ante ilium uxoris, post quern nihil amplius edit.
Virro sibi et reliquis Virronibus ilia iubebit
poma dari, quorum solo pascaris odore, 150
qualia perpetuus Phaeacum autumnus habebat,
credere quae possis subrepta sororibus Afris :
tu scabie frueris mali, quod in aggere rodit
qui tegitur parma et galea, metuensque flagelli
discit ab hirsuta iaculum torquere capella. 155
Forsitan inpensae Virronem parcere credas.
hoc agit ut doleas ; nam quae comoedia, mimus
quis melior plorante gula ? ergo omnia fiunt,
1 i e. the fortune of an eques. See note on iii. 154-5.
2 It was the childless that were courted for their money.
3 Agrippina the younger. She poisoned her husband, the
emperor, with a mushroom. * The Hesperides.
80
JUVENAL, SATIRE V
sesterces,1 O how great a personage would you be-
come, from being a nobody; how dear a friend to
Virro ! " Pray help Trebius to* this ! " " Let Trebius
have some of that ! " « Would you like a cut just from
the loin, good brother ? " O money, money ! It is to
you that he pays this honour, it is you that are his
brother ! Nevertheless, if you wish to be yourself a
great man, and a great man's lord, let there be no
little Aeneas playing about your halls, nor yet a
little daughter, more sweet than he ; nothing will so
endear you to your friend as a barren wife.2 But as
things now are, though your Mycale pour into your
paternal bosom three boys at a birth, Virro will be
charmed with the chattering brood, and will order
little green jackets to be given them, and little nuts,
and pennies too if they be asked for, when the
little parasites present themselves at his table.
146 Before the guests will be placed toadstools of
doubtful quality, before my lord a noble mushroom,
such a one as Claudius ate before that mushroom of his
wife's 3 — after which he ate nothing more. To him-
self and the rest of the Virros he will order apples
to be served whose scent alone would be a feast
apples such as grew in the never-failing Autumn of
the Phaeacians, and which you might believe to
have been niched from the African sisters ; 4 you are
treated to a rotten apple like those munched on the
ramparts by a monkey equipped with spear and
shield who learns, in terror of the whip, to hurl a
javelin from the back of a shaggy goat.
156 You may perhaps suppose that Virro grudges
the expense ; not a bit of it ! His object is to give
you pain. For what comedy, what mime, is so
amusing as a disappointed belly? His one object,
81
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
si nescis, ut per lacrimas effundere bilem
cogaris pressoque diu«tridere molari. 160
tu tibi liber homo et regis conviva videris :
captum te nidore suae putat ille culinae ;
nee male coniectat : quis enim tarn nudus, ut ilium
bis ferat, Etruscum puero si contigit aurum
vel nodus tantum et signum de paupere loro ? 165
spes bene cenandi vos decipit : " ecce dabit iam
semesum leporem atque aliquid de clunibus apri,
ad nos iam veniet minor altilis." inde parato
intactoque omnes et stricto pane tacetis.
ille sapit qui te sic utitur. omnia ferre 170
si potes, et debes. pulsandum vertice raso
praebebis quandoque caput, nee dura timebis
flagra pati, his epulis et tali dignus amico.
SATVRA VI
Credo Pudicitiam Saturno rege moratam
in terris visamque diu, cum frigida parvas
praeberet spelunca domos ignemque Laremque
et pecus et dominos communi clauderet umbra,
silvestrem montana torum cum sterneret uxor
frondibus et culmo vicinarumque ferarum
82
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
let me tell you, is to compel you to pour out your
wrath in tears, and to keep gnashing your molars
against each other. You think yourself a free man,
and guest of a grandee ; he thinks— and he is not far
wrong— that you have been captured by the savoury
odours of his kitchen. For who that had ever worn
the Etruscan bulla1 in his boyhood,— or even the
poor man's leather badge— could tolerate such a
patron for a second time, however destitute he might
be ? It is the hope of a good dinner that beguiles
you : "Surely he will give us," you say, "what is left
of a hare, or some scraps of a boar's haunch ; the
remains of a capon will come our way by and by."
And so you all sit in dumb silence, your bread
clutched, untasted, and ready for action. In treating
you thus, the great man shows his wisdom. If you
can endure such things, you deserve them; some
day you will be offering your head to be shaved and
slapped : nor will you flinch from a stroke of the
whip, well worthy of such a feast and such a friend.
SATIRE VI
The Ways of Women
In the days of Saturn,* I believe, Chastity still
lingered on the earth, and was to be seen for a time
—days when men were poorly housed in chilly caves,
when one common shelter enclosed hearth and house-
hold gods, herds and their owners ; when the hill-bred
wife spread her silvan bed with leaves and straw and
the skins of her neighbours the wild beasts— a wife not
_ T The golden bulla, enclosing a charm, was the sign of free
birth (ingenmtas). * i.e. in the golden days of innocence.
G 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
pellibus, haut similis tibi, Cynthia, nee tibi, cuius
turbavit nitidos extinctus passer ocellos,
sed potanda ferens infantibus ubera magnis
et saepe horridior glandem ructante marito. 10
quippe aliter tunc orbe novo caeloque recenti
vivebant homines, qui rupto robore nati
compositive luto nullos habuere parentes.
multa Pudicitiae veteris vestigia forsan
autaliqua exstiterint et sub love, set love nondum 15
barbato, nondum Graecis iurare paratis
per caput alterius, cum furem nemo timeret
caulibus et pomis, et aperto viveret horto.
paulatim deinde ad superos Astraea recessit
hac comite, atque duae pariter fugere sorores. 20
Anticum et vetus est alienum, Postume, lectum
concutere atque sacri genium contemnere fulcri.
omne aliud crimen mox ferrea protulit aetas :
viderunt primos argentea saecula moechos.
conventum tamen et pactum et sponsalia nostra 25
tempestate paras, iamque a tonsore magistro
pecteris, et digito pignus fortasse dedisti.
certe sanus eras ; uxorem, Postume, ducis ?
die, qua Tisiphone, quibus exagitare a colubris ?
ferre potes dominam salvis tot restibus ullam, 30
cum pateant altae caligantesque fenestrae,
1 exagitare Pi// : exagitere 0.
1 The Cynthia of Propertius.
2 The Lesbia of Catullus.
3 There was a legend that men had been born from oak-
trees.
* Astraea, daughter of Zeus and Themis, was the last
84
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
like to thee, O Cynthia,1 nor to thee, Lesbia,2 whose
bright eyes were clouded by a sparrow's death, but
one whose breasts gave suck to lusty babes, often
more unkempt herself than her acorn-belching
spouse. For in those days, when the world wa*s
young, and the skies were new, men born of the
riven oak,3 or formed of dust, lived differently from
now, and had no parents of their own. Under Jove,
perchance, some few traces of ancient modesty may
have survived ; but that was before he had grown
his beard, before the Greeks had learned to swear by
someone else's head, when men feared not thieves
for their cabbages or apples, and lived with unwalled
gardens. After that Astraea 4 withdrew by degrees
to heaven, with Chastity as her comrade, the5 two
sisters taking flight together.
21 To set your neighbour's bed a-shaking, Postu-
mus, and to flout the Genius of the sacred couch,5 is
now an ancient and long-established practice. All
other sins came later, the products of the age of Iron ;
but it was the silver age that saw the first adulterers.
Nevertheless, in these days of ours, you are pre-
paring for a covenant, a marriage-contract and a
betrothal ; you are by now getting your hair cut by
a master barber; you have also perhaps given a
pledge to her finger. What! Postumus, are you,
you who once had your wits, taking to yourself a
wife? Tell me what Tisiphone, what snakes are
driving you mad ? Can you submit to a she-tyrant
when there is so much rope to be had, so many
dizzy heights of windows standing open, and when
mortal to leave the earth when the Golden Age came to an
end ; she was placed among the stars as Virgo.
8 The fulcrum was the head of the couch, often ornamented
with the figure of the Genius in bronze.
85
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
cum tibi vicinum se praebeat Aemilius pons ?
aut si de multis nullus placet exitus, illud
nonne putas melius, quod tecum pusio dormit ?
pusio qui noctu non litigat, exigit a te 35
nulla iacens illic munuscula nee queritur quod
et lateri parcas nee quantum iussit anheles.
Sed placet Vrsidio lex Iulia, tollere dulcem
cogitat heredern, cariturus turture magno
mullorumque iubis et captatore macello. 40
quid fieri non posse putes, si iungitur ulla
Vrsidio ? si moechorum notissimus olim
stulta maritali iam porrigit ora capistro,
quem totiens texit perituri cista Latini ?
quid quod et antiquis uxor de moribus illi 45
quaeritur ? o medicr, nimiam pertundite venam.
delicias hominis ! Tarpeium limen adora
pronus et auratam Iunoni caede iuvencam,
si tibi contigerit capitis matrona padici.
paucae adeo Cereris x vittas contingere dignae, 50
quarum non timeat pater oscula : necte coronam
postibus et densos per limina tende corymbos.
unus Hiberinae vir sufficit ? ocius illud
extorquebis, ut haec oculo contenta sit uno.
magna tamen fama est cuiusdam rure paterno 55
viventis ? vivat Gabiis ut vixit in agro,
vivat Fidenis, et agello cedo paterno.
quis tamen adfirmat nil actum in montibus aut in
speluncis ? adeo senuerunt Iuppiter et Mars?
1 Cereris P<J/ : Housm. conj. teretis.
1 A law to encourage marriage.
86
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
the Aemilian bridge offers itself to hand ? Or if none
of all these modes of exit hit your fancy, how much
better to take some boy-bedfellow, who would never
wrangle with you o' nights, never ask presents of you
when in bed, and never complain that you took your
ease and were indifferent to his solicitations !
38 But Ursidius approves of the Julian Law.1 He
purposes to bring up a dear little heir, though he will
thereby have to do without the fine turtles, the
bearded mullets, and all the legacy-hunting deli-
cacies of the meat-market. What can you think
impossible if Ursidius takes to himself a wife ? if he,
who has long been the most notorious of gallants'
who has so often found safety in the corn-bin of the
luckless Latinus,2 puts his head into the connubial
noose ? And what think you of his searching for a
wife of the good old virtuous sort? O doctors, lance
his over-blooded veins. A pretty fellow you! Why, if
you have the good luck to find a modest spouse, you
should prostrate yourself before the Tarpeian thresh-
old, and sacrifice a heifer with gilded horns to Juno;
so few are the wives worthy to handle the fillets of
Ceres, or from whose kisses their own father would
not shrink ! Weave a garland for thy doorposts, and
set up wreaths of ivy over thy lintel! But will
Hiberina be satisfied with one man ? Sooner com-
pel her to be satisfied with one eye ! You tell me
of the high repute of some maiden, who lives on her
paternal farm : well, let her live at Gabii, at Fidenae,
as she lived in her own country, and I will believe
in your paternal farm. But will anyone tell me that
nothing ever took place on a mountain side or in
a cave ? Have Jupiter and Mars become so senile ?
2 An actor who played the part of a lover in hiding.
' 87
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
Porticibusne tibi monstratur femina voto 60
digna tuo ? cuneis an habent spectacula totis
quod securus ames quodque inde excerpere possis ?
chironomon Ledam molli saltante Bathyllo
Tuccia vesicae non imperat, Apula gannit
sicut in amplexu subito et miserabile longum ; 65
attendit Thymele : Thymele tunc rustica discit.
Ast aliae, quotiens aulaea recondita cessant
et vacuo clusoque sonant fora sola theatro, **'y +
atque a plebeis longe Megalesia, tristes
personam thyrsumque tenent et subligar Acci. 70
Vrbicus exodio visum movet Atellanae
gestibus Autonoes ; hunc diligit Aelia pauper,
solvitur his magno comoedi fibula, sunt quae
Chrysogonum cantare vetent, Hispulla tragoedo
gaudet : an expectas ut Quintilianus ametur? 75
accipis uxorem de qua citharoedus. Echion
aut Glapbyrus fiat pater Ambrosiusque clioraules.
longa per angustos figamus pulpita vicos,
ornentur postes et grandi ianua lauro,
ut testudineo tibi, Lentule, conopeo 80
nobilis Euryalum aut murmillonem exprimat infans.
Nupta senatori comitata est Eppia ludum
ad Pharon et Nilum famosaque moenia Lagi,
1 The Megalesian games begaa on the 4th of April and
lasted for six days ; the Plebeian games took place early in
November. 2 A famous singer.
3 M. Fabius Quintilianus, the famous Roman rhetorician,
a.d. 40-100. No grave and learned man like Quintilian will
attract them.
* The conopeum was properly a mosquito-net ; here it
seems to be used for a bassinette or cradle, 6 A gladiator.
88
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
60 Can our arcades show you one woman worthy of
your vows ? Do all the tiers in all our theatres hold
one whom you may love without misgiving, and
pick out thence ? When the soft Bathyllus dances
the part of the gesticulating Leda, Tuccia cannot
contain herself; your Apulian maiden heaves a
sudden and longing cry of ecstasy, as though she
were in a man's arms ; the rustic Thymele is all
attention, it is then that she learns her lesson.
67 Others again, when all the stage draperies have
been put away ; when the theatres are closed, and
all is silent save in the courts, and the Megalesian
games are far off from the Plebeian,1 ease their
dullness by taking to the mask, the thyrsus and the
tights of Accius. Urbicus, in an Atellane interlude,
raises a laugh by the gestures of Autonoe ; the
penniless Aelia is in love with him. Other women
pay great prices for the favours of a comedian ; some
will not allow Chrysogonus 2 to sing. Hispulla has a
fancy for tragedians ; but do you suppose that any
one will be found to love Quintilian ? 3 If you marry
a wife, it will be that the lyrist Echion or Glaphyrus,
or the flute player Ambrosius, may become a father.
Then up with a long dais in the narrow street !
Adorn your doors and doorposts with wreaths of
laui-el, that your highborn son, O Lentulus, may
exhibit, in his tortoiseshell cradle,4 the lineaments
of Euryalus 5 or of a murmillo ! 6
82 When Eppia, the senator's wife, ran off with a
gladiator7 to Pharos and the Nile and the ill-famed
8 A murmillo was equipped as a Gaulish warrior in heavy
armour. He carried the image of a fish in his crest, whence
the name jxopjxvpos or fiopfivKos.
7 Ludus is properly a gladiatorial school, or a troop of
gladiators.
89
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
prodigia et mores urbis damnante Canopo.
inmemor ilia domus et coniugis atque sororis 85
nil patriae indulsit, plorantesque improba natos,
utque magis stupeas, ludos Paridemque reliquit.
sed quamquam in magnis opibus plumaque paterna
et segmentatis dormisset parvula cunis,
contempsit pelagus ; famam contempserat olim, 90
cuius apud molles minima est iactura cathedras.
Tyrrhenos igitur fluctus lateque sonantem
pertulit Ionium constanti pectore, quamvis
mutandum totiens esset mare, iusta pericli
si ratio est et honesta, timent pavidoque gelantur 95
pectore nee tremulis possunt insistere plantis :
fortem animum praestant rebus quas turpiter audent.
si iubeat coniunx, durum est conscendere navem ;
tunc sentina gravis, tunc summus vertitur aer.
quae moechum sequitur, stomacho valet, ilia
maritum 100
convomit, haec inter nautas et prandet et errat
per puppem et duros gaudet tractai'e rudentis.
Qua tamen exarsit forma, qua capta iuventa
Eppia ? quid vidit propter quod ludia dici
sustinuit? nam Sergiolus iam radere guttur 105
coeperat et secto requiem sperare lacerto ;
praeterea multa in facie deformia, sicut
attritus galea mediisque in naribus ingens
gibbus et acre malum semper stillantis ocelli,
sed gladiator erat ; facit hoc illos Hyacinthos, 110
hoc pueris patriaeque, hoc praetulit ilia sorori
90
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
city of Lagos, Canopus itself cried shame upon the
monstrous morals of our town. Forgetful of home,
of husband and of sister, without thought of her
country, she shamelessly abandoned her weeping
children ; and — more marvellous still — deserted Paris
and the games. Though born in wealth, though as
a babe she had slept in a bedizened cradle on the
paternal down, she made light of the sea, just as she
had long made light of her good name — a loss but
little accounted of among our soft litter-riding dames.
And so with stout heart she endured the tossing and
the roaring of the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas, and
all the many seas she had to cross. For when danger
comes in a right and honourable way, a woman's
heart grows chill with fear ; she cannot stand upon
her trembling feet : but if she be doing a bold, bad
thing, her courage fails not. For a husband to order
his wife on board ship is cruelty : the bilge-water
then sickens her, the heavens go round and round.
But if she is running away with a lover, she feels
no qualms : then she vomits over her husband ; now
she messes with the sailors, she roams about the
deck, and delights in hauling at the hard ropes.
103 And what were the youthful charms which
captivated Eppia? What did she see in him to allow
herself to be called " a she-Gladiator " ? Her dear
Sergius had already begun to shave ; a wounded arm
gave promise of a discharge, and there were sundry
deformities in his face : a scar caused by the helmet,
a huge wen upon his nose, a nasty humour always
trickling from his eye. But then he was a gladiator!
It is this that transforms these fellows into Hya-
cinths ! it was this that she preferred to children and
to country, to sister and to husband. What these
91
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
atque viro : ferrum est quod amant. hie Sergius idem
accepta rude coepisset Veiento videri.
Quid privata domus, quid fecerit Eppia, curas ?
respiee ri vales divorum, Claudius audi 115
quae tulerit. dormire viruro cum senserat uxor,
ausa Palatino tegetem praeferre cubili,
sumere nocturnos meretrix Augusta cucullos
linquebat comite ancilla non amplius una>
sed nigrum flavo crinem abscondente galero 120
intravit calidum veteri centone lupanar
et cellam vacuam atque suam ; tunc nuda papillis
prostitit auratis titulum mentita Lyciscae
ostenditque tuum, generose Britannice, ventrem.
excepit blanda intrantis atque aera poposcit ; 125
mox lenone suas iam dimittente puellas 127
tristis abit, et quod potuit tamen ultima cellam
clausit, adhuc ardens rigidae tentigine volvae,
et lassata viris necdum satiata recessit, 130
obscurisque genis turpis fumoque lucernae
foeda lupanaris tulit ad pulvinar odorem.
Hippomanes carmenque loquar coctumque vene-
num
privignoque datum ? faciunt graviora coactae
imperio sexus minimumque libidine peccant. 135
" Optima set quare Censennia teste marito ? "
bis quingena dedit : tanti vocat ille pudicam.
1 Probably the husband.
5 In allusion to the deification of the emperors.
3 Messalina was the mother of Britannicus, b. a.d. 42.
92
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
women love is the sword : had this same Sergius
received his discharge, he would have been no better
than a Veiento.1
114 Do the concerns of a private household and
the doings of Eppia affect you ? Then look at those
who rival the Gods,2 and hear what Claudius en-
dured. As soon as his wife perceived that her husband
was asleep, this august harlot was shameless enough
to prefer a common mat to the imperial couch.
Assuming a night-cowl, and attended by a single
maid, she issued forth ; then, having concealed her
raven locks under a light-coloured peruque, she took
her place in a brothel reeking with long-used cover-
lets. Entering an empty cell reserved for herself,
she there took her stand, under the feigned name of
Lycisca, her nipples bare and gilded, and exposed to
view the womb that bore thee, O nobly-born Britan-
nicus ! 3 Here she graciously received all comers,
asking from each his fee; and when at length the
keeper dismissed the rest, she remained to the very
last before closing her cell, and with passion still
raging hot within her went sorrowfully away. Then
exhausted but unsatisfied, with soiled cheeks, and
begrimed with the smoke of lamps, she took back to
the imperial pillow all the odours of the stews.
J33 wiry tell of love potions and incantations, of
poisons brewed and administered to stepsons, or of
the grosser crimes to which women are driven by
the imperious power of sex ? Their sins of lust are
the least of all their sins.
136 "But tell me why is Censennia, on her hus-
band's testimony, the best of wives ? " She brought
him a million sesterces ; that is the price at which
he calls her chaste. He has not pined under the
93
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
nee pharetris Veneris macer est aut lampade fervet :
inde faces ardent, veniunt a dote sagittae.
libertas emitur ; coram licet innuat atque 140
rescribat : vidua est, locuples quae nupsit avaro.
" Cur desiderio Bibulae Sertorius ardet ? "
si verum excutias, facies, non uxor amatur.
tres rugae subeant et se cutis arida laxet,
fiant obscuri dentes oculique minores : 145
"collige sarcinulas," dicet libertus, " et exi.
iam gravis es nobis, et saepe emungeris. exi
ocius" et " propera, sicco venit altera naso."
interea calet et regnat poscitque maritum
pastores et ovem Canusinam ulmosque Falernas ; 150
quantulum in hoc ? pueros omnes, ergastula tota ;
quodque domi non est, sed habet vicinus, ematur.
mense quidem brumae, quo 1 iam mercator Iason
clausus et armatis opstat casa Candida nautis,
grandia tolluntur crystallina, maxima rursus 155
myrrhina, deinde adamans notissimus et Beronices
in digito factus pretiosior : hunc dedit olim
barbarus incestae, dedit hunc 2 Agrippa sorori,
1 quo PA : cum ifi.
2 dedil hunc S^ : dedit hue P : Housm. conj. geslarc.
1 This passage is thus explained : The lady buys various
articles at the feast of the Sigillaria (December 17-20), so
called from the statuettes which were then on sale. These
and other articles were set out in canvas booths, which were
built up against certain public buildings so as to screen
them from view. One of these buildings was the Portico of
94
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
darts of Venus ; he was never burnt by her torch.
It was the dowry that lighted his fires, the dowry
that shot those arrows ! That dowry bought liberty
for her : she may make what signals, and write what
love letters she pleases, before her husband's face ;
the rich woman who marries a money-loving husband
is as good as unmarried.
H2 it Why does Sartorius burn with love for Bibula ? "
If you shake out the truth, it is the face that he
loves, not the woman. Let three wrinkles make
their appearance; let her skin become dry and
flabby ; let her teeth turn black, and her eyes lose
their lustre: then will his freedman give her the
order, "Pack up your traps and be off! you've be-
come a nuisance ; you are for ever blowing your
nose ; be off, and quick about it ! There's another
wife coming who will not sniffle." But till that day
comes, the lady rules the roast, asking her husband
for shepherds and Canusian sheep, and elms for her
Falernian vines. But that's a mere nothing : she asks
for all his slave-boys, in town and country ; everything
that her neighbour possesses, and that she does not
possess, must be bought. Then in the winter time,
when the merchant Jason is shut out from view, and
his armed sailors are blocked out by the white booths,1
she will carry off huge crystal vases, vases bigger still
of agate, and finally a diamond of great renown,
made precious by the finger of Berenice.2 It was
given as a present long ago by the barbarian Agrippa
to his incestuous sister, in that country where kino-s
Agrippa on which there were paintings of the Argonauts.
Thus "the merchant" Jason and his armed sailers were
shut out and could not be seen.
J Sister to King Agrippa II. (Acts, xxv. 23).
95
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
observant ubi festa mero pede sabbata reges
et vetus indulget senibus dementia poreis. 160
" Nullane de tantis gresnbus tibi diffna videtur ? "
sit formosa decens dives fecunda, vetustos
porticibus disponat avos, intactior omni
crinibus effusis bellum dirimente Sabina,
rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cycno : 165
quis feret uxorem cui constant omnia ? malo,
malo Venusinam quam te, Cornelia, mater
Graccliorum, si cum magnis virtutibus adfers
grande supercilium et numeras in dote triumphos.
tolle tuum, precor, Hannibalem victumque Sy-
phacem 170
in castris et cum tota Carthatnne migra.
" Parce, precor, Paean, et tu,. dea, pone sagittas ;
nil pueri faciunt, ipsam configite matrern,"
Amphion clamat ; sed Paean contrahit arcum.
extulit ergo greges natorum ipsumque parentem, 175
dum sibi nobilior Latonae gente videtur
atque eadem scrofa Niobe fecundior alba,
quae tanti gravitas, quae forma, ut se tibi semper
imputet ? huius enim rari summique voluptas
nulla boni, quotiens animo corrupta superbo 180
plus aloes quam mellis habet. quis deditus autem
1 Josephus relates that Berenice sacrificed at Jerusalem
with dishevelled hair and bare feet.
2 For Jewish abstinence from pork see Tac. Hist. v. 4.
3 Alluding to the exploits of the elder Scipio.
4 Husband of Niobe.
96
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
celebrate festal sabbaths with bare feet/ and where
a long-established clemency suffers pigs to attain old
age.2
lei ii d0 yOU say no worthy wife is to be found
among all these crowds?" Well, let her be hand-
some, charming, rich and fertile ; let her have ancient
ancestors ranged about her halls ; let her be more
chaste than the dishevelled Sabine maidens who
stopped the war — a prodigy as rare upon the earth
as a black swan ! yet who could endure a wife that
possessed all perfections? I would rather have a
Venusian wench for my wife than you, O Cornelia,
mother of the Gracchi, if, with all your virtues, you
bring me a haughty brow, and reckon up Triumphs
as part of your marriage portion. Away with your
Hannibal, I beseech you ! Away with Syphax over-
powered in his camp ! Take yourself off, Carthage
and all ! 3
172 " Be merciful, I pray, O Apollo ! and thou, O god-
dess, lay down thine arrows. These babes have done
naught : shoot down their mother ! " Thus prayed
Amphion ; 4 but Apollo bends his bow, and Niobe 5
led forth to the grave her troop of sons, and their
father to boot, because she deemed herself of nobler
race than Latona, and more prolific than the white
sow of Alba. For is any dignity in a wife, any
beauty, worth the cost, if she is for ever reckoning
up her merits against you ? These high and tran-
scendent qualities lose all their charm when spoilt
by a pride that savours more of aloes than of honey.
5 Wife of Amphion, king of Thebes. Proud of her six
sons and six daughters, she boasted herself against Lelo,
mother of Apollo and Artemis. Indignant at her presump-
tion, they slew all her children with arrows.
97
H
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
usque adeo est, ut non illam quam laudibus effert
horreat inque diem septenis oderit horis ?
Quaedam parva quidem, sed non toleranda mantis,
nam quid rancidius, quam quod se non putat ulla 185
formosam nisi quae de Tusca Graecula facta est,
de Sulmonensi mera Cecropis ? omnia Graece,
cum sit turpe magis nostris nescire Latine ;
hoc sermone pavent, hoc iram gaudia curas,
hoc cuncta effundunt animi secreta : quid ultra? 190
concumbunt Graece. dones tamen ista puellis :
tune etiam, quam sextus et octogensimus annus
pulsat, adhuc Graece ? non est hie sermo pudicus
in vetula : quotiens lascivum intervenit illud
£on/ xal \j/vxv, modo sub lodice relictis1 195
uteris in turba. quod enim non excitet inguen
vox blanda et nequam ? digitos habet. ut tamen
omnes
subsidant pinnae, dicas haec mollius Haemo
quamquam et Carpophoro, facies tua conputat annos.
Si tibi legitimis pactam iunctamque tabellis 200
non es amaturus, ducendi nulla videtur
causa, nee est quare cenam et mustacea perdas
labente officio crudis donanda, nee illud
quod prima pro nocte datur, cum lance beata
Dacicus et scripto radiat Germanicus auro. 205
si tibi simplicitas uxoria, deditus uni
est animus, summitte caput cervice parata
ferre iugum. nullam invenies quae parcat amanti :
1 Housm. conj. ferendis for the relictis of Pi//,
1 Sulmo, in the Pelignian country, was the birthplace of
Ovid. a Names of actors.
3 Alluding to the gold coins (aurei) minted by Trajan
in honour of his victories. The aureus was about equal in
metal value to our guinea.
98
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
And who was ever so enamoured as not to shrink
from the woman whom he praises to the skies,
and to hate her for seven hours out of every
twelve ?
184 Some small faults are intolerable to husbands.
What can be more offensive than this, that no woman
believes in her own beauty unless she has converted
herself from a Tuscan into a Greekling, or from a
maid of Sulmo * into a maid of Athens ? They talk
nothing but Greek, though it is a greater shame for
our people to be ignorant of Latin. Their fears and
their wrath, their joys and their troubles— all the
secrets of their souls — are poured forth in Greek ;
their very loves are carried on in Greek fashion. All
this might be pardoned in a girl ; but will you,
who are hard on your eighty-sixth year, still talk in
Greek ? That tongue is not decent in an old woman's
mouth. When you come out with the wanton words
&V Kal tl/vx^j, you are using in public the language
of the bed-chamber. Caressing and naughty words
like these incite to love ; but though you say them
more tenderly than a Haemus or a Carpophorus,2
they will cause no fluttering of the heart your
years are counted up upon your face !
200 If you are not to love the woman betrothed
and united to you in due form, what reason have
you for marrying? Why waste the supper, and the
wedding cakes to be given to the well-filled guests
when the company is slipping away— to say nothing
of the first night's gift of a salver rich with glittering
gold inscribed with Dacian or Germanic victories ? 3
If you are honestly uxorious, and devoted to one
woman, then bow your head and submit your neck
to the yoke. Never will you find a woman who spares
99
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
ardeat ipsa licet, tormentis gaudet amantis
et spoliis ; igitur longe minus utilis illi 210
uxor, quisquis erit bonus optandusque maritus,
nil umquam invita donabis coniuge, vendes
hac opstante nihil, nihil, haec si nolet, emetur.
haec dabit affectus : ille excludatur amicus
iam senior, cuius barbam tua ianua vidit. 215
testandi cum sit lenonibus atque lanistis
libertas et iuris idem contingat harenae,
non unus tibi rivalis dictabitur heres.
" Pone crucem servo." "meruit quo crimine
servus
supplicium ? quis testis adest ? quis detulit ? audi ; 220
nulla umquam de morte hominis cunctatio longa
est."
" o demens, ita servus homo est ? nil fecerit, esto :
hoc volo, sic iubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas."
imperat ergo viro. set mox haec regna relinquit
permutatque domos et flammea content, inde 225
avolat et spreti repetit vestigia lecti ;
ornatas paulo ante fores, pendentia linquit
vela domus et adhuc virides in limine ramos.
sic crescit numerus, sic fiunt octo mariti
quinque per autumnos. titulo res digna sepulchri. 230
Desperanda tibi salva concordia socru.
ilia docet spoliis nudi gaudere mariti,
IOO
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
the man who loves her; for though she be herself
aflame, she delights to torment and plunder him.
So the better the man, the more desirable he be as a
husband, the less good will he get out of his wife.
No present will you ever make if your wife forbids ;
nothing will you ever sell if she objects; nothing
will you buy without her consent. She will arrange
your friendships for you; she will turn your now-
aged friend from the door which saw the beginnings
of his beard. Panders and trainers can make their
wills as they please, as also can the gentlemen of
the arena ; but you will have to write down among
your heirs more than one rival of your own.
219 " Crucify that slave ! " says the wife. « But
what crime worthy of death has he committed ? " asks
the husband ; « where are the witnesses ? who in-
formed against him ? Give him a hearing at least ; no
delay can be too long when a man's life is at stake !"
" What, you numskull ? You call a slave a man, do
you? He has done no wrong, you say? Be it so;
but this is my will and my command : let my will be
the voucher for the deed." Thus does she lord it
over her husband. But before long she vacates her
kingdom ; she Hits from one home to another, wear-
ing out her bridal veil ; then back she flies again and
returns to her own imprints in the bed that she has
abandoned, leaving behind her the newly decorated
door, the festal hangings on the walls, and the gar-
lands still green over the threshold. Thus does the
tale of her husbands grow ; there will be eight of
them in the course of five autumns — a fact worthy
of commemoration on her tomb !
231 Give up all hope of peace so long as your
mother-in-law is alive. It is she that teaches her
IOI
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
ilia docet missis a corruptore tabellis
nil rude nee simplex rescribere, decipit ilia
custodes aut aere domat ; tunc corpore sano 235
advocat Archigenen onerosaque pallia iactat.
abditus interea latet et secretus adulter,
inpatiensque morae silet et praeputia ducit.
scilicet expectas ut tradat mater honestos
atque alios mores quam quos habet ? utile porro 240
filiolam turpi vetulae producere turpem.
Nulla fere causa est in qua non femina litem
moverit. accusat Manilia, si rea non est.
conponunt ipsae per se formantque libellos,
principium atque locos Celso dictare paratae. 245
Endromidas Tyrias et femineum ceroma
quis nescit, vel quis non vidit vulnei-a pali,
quem cavat adsiduis rudibus scutoque lacessit
atque omnes implet numeros dignissima prorsus
Florali matrona tuba, nisi si quid in illo 250
pectore plus agitat veraeque paratur harenae.
quem praestare potest mulier galeata pudorem,
quae fugit a sexu ? vires amat : haec tamen ipsa
vir nollet fieri, nam quantula nostra voluptas !
quale decus, rerum si coniugis auctio fiat, 255
balteus et manicae et cristae crurisque sinistri
dimidium tegimen ! vel, si diversa movebit
1 A fashionable doctor of the day.
2 Either a jurist or a rhetorician.
3 The endromis was a coarse, woollen cloak in which
athletes wrapped themselves after their exercises.
4 Games in honour of Flora (April 28-May 3), at which
much female licence was allowed.
6 i.t. a gladiatorial contest.
102
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
daughter to revel in stripping and despoiling her
husband ; it is she that teaches her to reply to a
seducer's love-letters in no plain and honest fashion ;
she eludes or bribes your guards ; it is she that calls
in Archigenes1 when your daughter has nothing the
matter with her, and tosses off the heavy blankets ;
the lover meanwhile is in secret and silent hiding,
trembling with impatience and expectation. Do you
really expect the mother to teach her daughter
honest ways — ways different from her own? Nay,
the vile old woman finds a profit in bringing up her
daughter to be vile.
242 There never was a case in court in which the
quarrel was not started by a woman. If Manilia is
not a defendant, she'll be the plaintiff; she will her-
self frame and adjust the pleadings ; she will be
ready to instruct Celsus2 himself how to open his
case, and how to urge his points.
2« Why need I tell of the purple wraps 3 and the
wrestling-oils used by women ? Who has not seen
one of them smiting a stump, piercing it through and
through with a foil, lunging at it with a shield, and
going through all the proper motions ?- — a matron
truly qualified to blow a trumpet at the Floralia ! 4
Unless, indeed, she is nursing some further ambition
in her bosom, and is practising for the real arena.
What modesty can you expect in a woman who wears
a helmet, abjures her own sex, and delights in feats
of strength ? Yet she would not choose to be a man,
knowing the superior joys of womanhood. What a
fine thing for a husband, at an auction of his wife's
effects, to see her belt and armlets and plumes put up
for sale, with a gaiter that covers half the left leg ;
or if she fight another sort 5 of battle, how charmed
103
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
proelia, tu felix ocreas vendente puella.
hae sunt quae tenui sudant in cyclade, quarum
delicias et panniculus bombycinus urit. 260
aspice quo fremitu monstratos perferat ictus
et quanto galeae curvetur pondere, quanta
poplitibus sedeat quam denso fascia libro,
et ride positis scaphium cum sumitur armis.
dicite vos, neptes Lepidi caecive Metelli 265
Gurgitis aut Fabii, quae ladia sumpserit umquam
bos babitus, quando ad palum gemat uxor Asyli.
Semper babet lites alternaque iurgia lectus
in quo nupta iacet ; minimum dormitur in illo.
turn gravis ilia viro, tunc orba tigride peior, 270
cum simulat gemitus occulti conscia facti ;
aut odit pueros aut ficta paelice plorat,
uberibus semper lacrimis semperque paratis
in statione sua atque expectantibus illam,
quo iubeat manare modo ; tu ci'edis amorem, 275
tu tibi tunc, uruca, places fletumque labellis
exorbes, quae scripta et quot lecture tabellas,
si tibi zelotypae retegantur scrinia moecbae !
sed iacet in servi complexibus aut equitis. " die,
die aliquem sodes hie, Quintiliane, colorem." 280
" haeremus. die ipsa." " olim convenerat," inquit,
" ut faceres tu quod velles, nee non ego possem
indulgere mihi. clames licet et mare caelo
1 Supposed to be a gladiator.
2 The famous Roman rhetorician, b. A.D. 44, author of the
Institutiones Oratoriae.
104
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
you will be to see your young wife disposing of her
greaves ! Yet these are the women who find the
thinnest of thin robes too hot for them ; whose deli-
cate flesh is chafed by the finest of silk tissue. See
how she pants as she goes through her prescribed
exercises; how she bends under the weight of her
helmet ; how big and coarse are the bandages which
enclose her haunches ; and then laugh when she lays
down her arms and shows herself to be a woman !
Tell us, ye grand-daughters of Lepidus, or of the blind
Metellus, or of Fabius Gurges, what gladiator's wife
ever assumed accoutrements like these ? When did
the wife of Asylus 1 ever gasp against a stump ?
268 The bed that holds a wife is never free from
wrangling and mutual bickerings ; no sleep is to be
got there ! It is there that she sets upon her husband,
more savage than a tigress that has lost her cubs ;
conscious of her own secret slips, she affects a
grievance, abusing his slaves, or weeping over some
imagined mistress. She has an abundant supply of
tears always ready in their place, awaiting her com-
mand in which fashion they should flow. You, poor
dolt, are delighted, believing them to be tears of
love, and kiss them away; but what notes, what
love-letters would you find if you opened the desk
of your green-eyed adulterous wife ! If you find her
in the arms of a slave or of a knight, "Speak, speak,
Quintilian,2 give me one of your colours,3 " she will
say. But Quintilian has none to give: "find it
yourself," says he. "We agreed long ago," says the
lady, "that you were to go your way, and I mine.
You may confound sea and sky with your bellowing,
3 Color is a technical term in rhetoric, denoting an argu-
ment which puts a favourable or palliative light on some act.
*°5
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
uonfundas, homo sum." nihil est audacius illis
deprensis : iram atque animos a crimine sumunt. 285
Unde haec monstra tamen vel quo de fonte,
requiris ?
praestabat castas humilis fortuna Latinas
quondam, nee vitiis contingi parva sinebant
tecta labor somnique breves et vellere Tusco
vexatae duraeque manus ac proximus urbi 290
Hannibal et stantes Collina turre mariti.
nunc patimur longae pacis mala, saevior armis
luxuria incubuit victumque ulciscitur orbem.
nullum crimen abest facinusque libidinis, ex quo
paupertas Romana perit. hinc fluxit ad istos 295
et Sybaris colles, hinc et Rhodos et Miletos
atque coronatum et petulans madidumque Tarentum.
prima peregrinos obscaena pecunia mores
intulit, et turpi fregerunt saecula luxu
divitiae molles. quid enim Venus ebria curat? 300
inguinis et capitis quae sint discrimina, nescit
grandia quae mediis iam noctibus ostrea mordet,
cum perfusa mero spumant unguenta Falerno,
cum bibitur concha, cum iam vertigine tectum
ambulat et geminis exsurgit mensa lucernis. 305
I nunc et dubita, qua sorbeat aera sanna
Tullia, quid dicat notae collactea Maurae
Maura, Pudicitiae veterem cum praeterit aram.
noctibus hie ponunt lecticas, micturiunt hie
effigiemque deae longis siphonibus implent 310
1 For Hannibal at the Colline Gate, B.C. 213, see Liv.
xxvi 10.
8 Mr. Duff explains this of a scene in the theatre in Taren-
tum when the people, garlanded in honour of Dionysus,
insulted the Roman ambassador (Dio. Cass, fragm. 145).
106
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
I am a human being after all." There's no effrontery
like that of a woman caught in the act ; her very
guilt inspires her with wrath and insolence.
2S(3 But whence come these monstrosities ? you ask ;
from what fountain do they flow ? In days of old, the
wives of Latium were kept chaste by their humble
fortunes. It was toil and brief slumbers that kept
vice from polluting their modest homes ; hands chafed
and hardened by Tuscan fleeces, Hannibal nearing
the city, and husbands standing to arms at the
Colline gate.1 We are now suffering the calamities
of long peace. Luxury, more deadly than any foe,
has laid her hand upon us, and avenges a conquered
world. Since the day when Roman poverty perished,
no deed of crime or lust has been wanting to us ;
from that moment Sybaris and Rhodes and Miletus
have poured in upon our hills, with the begarlanded
and drunken and unabashed Tarentum.2 Filthy lucre
first brought in amongst us foreign ways; wealth
enervated and corrupted the ages with foul indul-
gences. What decency does Venus observe when she
is drunken ? when she knows not one member from
another, eats giant oysters at midnight, pours foaming
unguents into her unmixed Falernian, and drinks out
of perfume-bowls, while the roof spins dizzily round,
the table dances, and every light shows double !
306 Go to now and wonder what means the sneer
with which Tullia snuffs the air, or what Maura
whispers to her ill-famed foster-sister, when she
passes by the ancient altar of Chastity ? 3 It is there
that they set down their litters at night, and befoul
the image of the Goddess, playing their filthy pranks
3 The ancient Temple of Pudicitia was in the Forum
Boarium.
107
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
inque vices equitant ac Luna teste moventur ;
inde domos abeunt : tu calcas luce reversa
coniugis urinam magnos visums amicos.
Nota bonae secreta deae, cum tibia lumbos
incitat et cornu pariter vinoque feruntur 315
attonitae crinemque rotant ululantque Priapi
maenades. o quantus tunc illis mentibus ardor
concubitus, quae vox saltante libidine, quantus
ille meri veteris per crura madentia torrens !
lenonum ancillas posita Saufeia corona 320
provocat ac tollit pendentis praemia coxae ;
ipsa Medullinae fluctum crisantis adorat :
palma inter dominas, virtus natalibus aequa.
nil ibi per ludum simulabitur, omnia fient
ad verumj quibus incendi iam frigidus aevo 325
Laomedontiades et Nestoris hirnea possit.
tunc prurigo morae inpatiens, turn femina simplex,
ac pariter toto repetitus clamor ab antro
"iam fas est, admitte viros." si dormit adulter,
ilia iubet sumpto iuvenem properare cucullo ; 330
si nihil est, servis incurritur ; abstuleris spem
servorum, veniet conductus aquarius ; hie si
quaeritur et desunt homines, mora nulla per ipsam,
quo minus imposito clunem summittat asello.
atque utinam ritus veteres et publica saltern 335
his intacta malis agerentur sacra ! sed omnes
noverunt Mauri atque Indi quae psaltria penem
maiorem, quam sunt duo Caesaris Antieatones,
illuc, testiculi sibi conscius unde fugit mus,
intulerit, ubi velari pictura iubetur 340
quaecumque altei-ius sexus imitata figuras.
Et quis tunc hominum contemptor numinis ?
aut quis
simpuvium ridere Numae nigrumque catinum
108
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
for the mom to witness. Thence home they go ; while
you, when daylight comes, and you are on your way
to salute your mighty friends, will tread upon the
traces of your wife's abominations.
314 Well known to all are the mysteries of the
Good Goddess, when the flute stirs the loins and the
Maenads of Priapus sweep along, frenzied alike by
the horn-blowing and the wine, whirling their locks
and howling. What foul longings burn within their
breasts ! What cries they utter as the passion palpi-
tates within ! How drenched their limbs in torrents
of old wine ! Saufeia challenges the slave-girls to a
contest. Her agility wins the prize, but she has
herself in turn to bow the knee to Medullina. And
so the palm remains with the mistress, whose ex-
ploits match her birth ! There is no pretence in the
game; all is enacted to the life in a manner that
would warm the cold blood of a Priam or a Nestor.
And now impatient nature can wait no longer :
woman shows herself as she is, and the cry comes
from every corner of the den, " Let in the men ! "
If one favoured youth is asleep, another is bidden to
put on his cowl and hurry along; if better cannot
be got, a run is made upon the slaves ; if they too
fail, the water-carrier will be paid to come in. O
would that our ancient practices, or at least our
public rites, were not polluted by scenes like these !
But every Moor and every Indian knows how Clodius
forced his way into a place from which every buck-
mouse scuttles away conscious of his virility, and in
which no picture of the male form may be exhibited
except behind a veil.
34- Who ever sneered at the Gods in the days of
old ? Who would have dared to laugh at the earthen-
109
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
et Vaticano fragiles de monte patellas
ausus erat ? sed nunc ad quas non Clodius aras ? 345
[Audio quid veteres olim moneatis amici :
"pone seram, cohibe." x sed quis custodiet ipsos
custodes ? cauta est et ab illis incipit uxor.2]
iamque eadem su minis pariter minimisque libido,
nee melior, silicem pedibus quae content atrum, 350
quam quae longorum veliitur cervice Syrorum.
Ut spectet ludos, conducit Ogulnia vestem,
conducit comites sellam cervical arnicas
nutricem et flavam cui det mandata puellam.
haec tamen argenti superest quodcumque paterni 355
levibus athletis et vasa novissima donat ;
multis res angusta domi, sed nulla pudorem
paupertatis habet nee se metitur ad ilium
quern dedit haec posuitque modum. tamen utile
quid sit
prospiciunt aliquando virl, frigusque famemque 360
formica tandem quidam expavere magistra :
prodiga non sentit pereuntem femina censum.
ac velut exhausta redivivus pullulet area
nummus et e pleno tollatur semper acervo,
non umquam reputant quanti sibi gaudia con-
stent.3 365
1 P here has the false reading prohibe for cohibe.
2 Lines 346-348 are obviously out of place. They are
repeated below, with an addition, in their proper place in
0 29-34.
3 The following thirty-four lines, marked 0 1-34, which
are now accepted as genuine by Juvenalian critics, were dis-
covered in 1899 by Mr. E. 0. Winstedt in a Bodleian MS.
(Canonicianus 41), now known by the letter 0. For the
announcement of this discovery see Classical Review, May,
1899, pp. 201 foil. The passage is in many places obscure ;
many of the readings are uncertain ; and Professor Housman
has kindly permitted me to insert as above his paraphrase of
1 io
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
ware bowls or black pots of Numa, or the brittle
plates made out of Vatican clay ? But nowadays at
what altar will you not find a Clodius ? 1
346 I hear all this time the advice of my old
friends — keep your women at home, and put them
under lock and key. Yes, but who will watch the
warders ? Wives are crafty and will begin with them.
High or low their passions are all the same. She
who wears out the black cobble-stones with her
bare feet is no better than she who rides upon the
necks of eight stalwart Syrians.
352 Ogulnia hires clothes to see the games ; she
hires attendants, a litter, cushions, female friends,
a nurse, and a fair-haired girl to run her messages ;
yet she will give all that remains of the family pfate,'
down to the last flagon, to some smooth-faced athlete.
Many of these women are poor, but none of them pay
any regard to their poverty, or measure themselves
by the standard which that prescribes and lays down
for them. Men, on the other hand, do sometimes
have an eye to utility; the ant has at last taught
some of them to dread cold and hunger. But your
extravagant woman is never sensible of her dwindling
means; and just as though money were for ever
sprouting up afresh from her exhausted coffers, and
she had always a full heap to draw from, she never
gives a thought to what her pleasures cost her.
1 Alluding to the profanation of the mysteries of the Bona
Dea by Clodius, in B.C. 62, by appearing in the disguise of a
female lutist.
the passage as a whole which he published in the G.R. for
June, 1S99, p. 268, and which he subsequently corrected for
lines 9-12 (G.R. 1904, pp. 395-8). He has also kindly
supplied me with a version of line 18 which he left un-
translated in his original version.
Ill
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
In quacumque domo vivit luditque professus O 1
obscenum, tremula promittit et omnia dextra,
invenies omnis turpes similesque cinaedis.
his violare cibos sacraeque adsistere mensae
permittunt, et vasa iubent frangenda lavari, O 5
cum colocyntha bibit vel cum barbata chelidon.
purior ergo tuis laribus meliorque lanista,
in cuius numero longe migrare iubetur
psellus 1 ab Eupholio ; quid quod nee retia turpi
iunguntur tunicae, nee cella ponit eadem O 10
munimenta umeri pulsatamque arma2 tridentem
qui nudus pugnare solet? pars ultima ludi
accipit has animas aliusque in carcere nervos.
sed tibi communem calicem facit uxor et illis,
cum quibus Albanum Surrentinumque recuset O 15
flava ruinosi lupa degustare sepulchri.
horum consiliis nubunt subitaeque recedunt,
his languentem animum servant et seria vitae,
his clunem atque latus discunt vibrare magistris,
quicquid praeterea scit qui docet. haud tamen
illi O 20
semper habenda fides : oculos fuligine pascit
distinctus croceis et reticulatus adulter,
suspectus tibi sit quanto vox mollior et quo
saepius in teneris haerebit dextera lumbis.
hie erit in lecto fortissimus : exuit illic O 25
personam docili Thais saltata Triphallo.
"quern rides ? aliis hunc mimum ! sponsio fiat :
purum te contendo virum. contendo : fateris ?
an vocat ancillas tortoris pergula? "
Novi
consilia et veteres quaecumque monetis amici : O 30
1 p.seZ/ussoHousm.andOwen: 0 reads psttlus : Biich. Psyl-
lus. Eupholio 0 : Housm. reads euphono : Biich. conj. Euhoplio.
112
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
01 a
Whenever a cinaedus is kept he taints the
household. Folks let these fellows eat and drink
with them, and merely have the vessels washed,
not shivered to atoms as they should be when such
lips have touched them. So even the lanista's
establishment is better ordered than yours, for he
separates the vile from the decent, and sequesters
even from their fellow-retiarii the wearers of the ill-
famed tunic; in the training-school, and even in
gaol, such creatures herd apart; but your wife
condemns you to drink out of the same cup as these
gentry, with whom the poorest trull would refuse to
sip the choicest wine. Them do women consult
about marriage and divorce, with their society do
they relieve boredom or business, from them do they
learn lascivious motions and whatever else the teacher
knows. But beware! that teacher is not always
what he seems: true, he darkens his eyes and
dresses like a woman, but adultery is his design.
Mistrust him the more for his show of effeminacy;
he is a valiant mattress-knight; there Triphallus
drops the mask of Thais. Whom are you fooling?1
not me ; play this farce to those who cannot pierce
the masquerade. I wager you are every inch a man ;
do you own it, or must we wring the truth out of
the maid-servants ? "
029 I know well the advice and warnings of my old
1 He now addresses the cinaedus himself.
8 0 reads pulsatamque arma : Housm. conj. pulsata has-
lamque : pulsata arcaque Owen : pulsantemque Postgate :
Buch. conj. pulsaloremque tridentem and compares vi. 4u
"3
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
"pone seram, cohibe." sed quis custodiat1 ipsos
custodes, qui nunc lascivae furta puellae
hac mercede silent ? crimen commune tacetur :
prospicit hoc prudens et ab illis incipit uxor. ... 034
Sunt quas eunuchi inbelles ac mollia semper 366
oscula delectent et desperatio barbae
et quod abortivo non est opus, ilia voluptas
summa tamen, quod iam calida matura iuventa
inguina traduntur medicis, iam pectine nigro ; 370
ergo expectatos ac iussos crescere primum
testiculos, postquam coeperunt esse bilibres,
tonsoris damno tantum rapit Heliodorus.2
conspicuus longe cunctisque notabilis intrat
balnea nee dubie custodem vitis et horti 375
provocat a domina factus spado, dormiat ille
cum domina, sed tu iam durum, Postume, iamque
tondendum eunucho Bromium committere noli.
Si gaudet cantu, nullius fibula durat
vocem vendentis praetoribus. organa semper 380
in manibus, densi radiant testudine tota
sardonyches ; crispo numerantur pectine chordae,
quo tener Hedymeles operas dedit : hunc tenet,
hoc se
solatur, gratoque indulget basia plectro.
quaedam de numero Lamiarum ac nominis Appi 385
et farre et vino Ianum Vestamque rogabat,
an Capitolinam deberet Pollio quercum
sperare et fidibus promittere. quid faceret plus
aegrotante viro, medicis quid tristibus erga
filiolum ? stetit ante aram nee turpe putavit 390
pro cithara velare caput dictataque verba
pertulit, ut mos est, et aperta palluit agna.
1 0 here reads custodiat, but P^ have cuslodiet in the
repeated passage, line 347.
114
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
friends : " Put on a lock and keep your wife indoors."
Yes, and who will ward the warders ? They get paid in
kind for holding their tongues as to their young lady's
escapades; participation seals their lips. The wily
wife arranges accordingly, and begins with them. . . .
379 If your wife is musical, none of those who sell
their voices 1 to the praetor will hold out against her
charms. She is for ever handling musical instru-
ments; her sardonyx rings sparkle thick all over
the tortoise-shell ; the quivering quill with which
she runs over the chords will be that with which
the gentle Hedymeles performed; she hugs it,
consoles herself with it, and lavishes kisses on the
dear implement. A certain lady of the lineage of
the Lamiae and the Appii2 inquired of Janus? and
Vesta, with offerings of cake and wine, whether
Pollio could hope for the Capitoline oak-chaplet and
promise victory to his lyre.3 What more could she
have done had her husband been ill, or if the doctors
had been shaking their heads over her dear little
son? There she stood before the altar, thinkino- it
no shame to veil her head4 on behalf of a harper;
she repeated, in due form, all the words prescribed
to her; her cheek blanched when the lamb was
opened. Tell me now, I pray, O father Janus, thou
1 i.e. professionals who sing for hire on public occasions,
i.e. of a noble family.
• Vf" pr\Zl of oak-.le.aves wraa given at the agon Capitolinus,
instituted by Domitian. Pollio was a player on the ciihara
lo veil the head was part of the ceremony at a sacrifice.
2 Between lines 373 and 374 the MS. 0 gives the following
'O lines ; — ' °
two lines :
mangpnum pueros vera ac miserabilis urit
debilitas follisque pudet cicerisquc relicti.
i 2
JI5
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
die mihi nunc quaeso, die, antiquissime divom,
respondes his, lane pater ? magna otia eaeli ;
non est, quod video, non est quod agatur aput vos. 395
haec de comoedis te consulit, ilia tragoedum
commendare volet, varicosus net haruspex.
Sed cantet potius quam totam pervolet urbem
audax et coetus possit quae ferre virorum
cumque paludatis ducibus praesente marito 400
ipsa loqui recta facie. siccisque mamillis.
haec eadem novit quid toto fiat in orbe,
quid Seres, quid Thraces agant, secreta novercae
et pueri, quis amet, quis diripiatur adulter ;
dicet quis viduam praegnatem fecerit et quo 405
mense, quibus verbis concumbat quaeque, modis quot.
instantem regi Armenio Parthoque cometen
prima videt, famam rumoresque ilia recentis
excipit ad portas, quosdam facit ; isse Niphaten
in populos magnoque illic cuncta arva * teneri 410
diluvio, nutare urbes, subsidere terras
quocumque in trivio cuicumque est obvia, narrat.
1 Nee tamen id vitium magis intolerabile quam quae 2
vicinos humiles rapere et concidere loris
exorata 3 solet. nam si latratibus alti 415
rumpuntur somni, " fustes hue ocius," inquit,
" adferte " atque illis dominum iubet ante feriri,
deinde canem, gravis occursu, taeterrima vultu.
1 arva ^/ : arma P.
2 quodty: quae?. ......
s exorata <J/ , exortata P Housm. Buch. (19 J u).
u6
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
most ancient of the Gods, dost thou answer such as
she ? You have much time on your hands in heaven ;
so far as I can see, there is nothing for you Gods to do.
One lady consults you about a comedian, another
wishes to commend to you a tragic actor ; the sooth-
sayer will soon be troubled with varicose veins.1
398 Bettei', however, that your wife should be
musical than that she should be rushing boldly about
the entire city, attending men's meetings, talking
with unflinching face and hard breasts to Generals in
their military cloaks, with her husband looking on !
This same woman knows what is going on all over
the world : what the Thracians and Chinese are
after, what has passed between the stepmother and
the stepson ; she knows who loves whom, what
gallant is the rage ; she will tell you who got the
widow with child, and in what month ; how every
woman behaves to her lovers, and what she says to
them. She is the first to notice the comet threaten-
ing the kings of Armenia and Parthia ; she picks up
the latest rumours at the city gates, and invents
some herself: how the Niphates2 has burst out upon
the nations, and is inundating entire districts ; how
cities are tottering and lands subsiding, she tells to
every one she meets at every street crossing.
413 No less insufferable is the woman who loves to
catch hold of her poor neighbours, and deaf to their
cries for mercy lays into them with a whip. If her
sound slumbers are disturbed by a barking dog,
" Quick with the rods!" she cries; "thrash the
owner first, and then the dog ! " She is a formidable
woman to encounter ; she is terrible to look at.
i.e. with so much standing about.
Properly a mountain ; here meant for a river.
"7
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
balnea nocte subit, conchas et castra moveri
nocte iubet, magno gaudet sudare tumultu, 420
cum lassata gravi ceciderunt bracchia massa,
callidus et cristae digitos inpressit aliptes
ac summum dominae femur exclamare coegit.
convivae miseri interea somnoque fameque
urguentur. tandem ilia venit rubicundula, totum 425
oenophorum sitiens, plena quod tenditur urna
admotum pedibus, de quo sextarius alter
ducitur ante cibum rabidam facturus orexim,
dum redit et loto terram ferit intestine
marmoribus rivi properant, aurata Falernum 430
pelvis olet ; nam sic tamquam alta in dolia longus
deciderit serpens, bibit et vomit, ergo maritus
nauseat atque oculis bilem substringit opertis.
Ilia tamen gravior, quae cum discumbere coepit,
laudat Vergilium, periturae ignoscit Elissae, 435
committit vates et comparat, inde Maronem
atque alia parte in trutina suspendit Homerum.
cedunt grammatici, vincuntur rhetores, omnis
turba tacet, nee causidicus nee praeco loquetur,
altera nee mulier ; verborum tanta cadit vis, 440
tot pariter pelves ac tintinnabula dicas
pulsari. iam nemo tubas, nemo aera fatiget :
una laboranti poterit succurrere Lunae.
inponit finem sapiens et rebus honestis ;
nam quae docta nimis cupit et facunda videri, 445
crure tenus medio tunicas succingere debet,
i Eclipses of the moon were supposed to be due to the
incantations of witches. To prevent these from being heard
and so ward off the evil events portended by the eclipse, it
was the custom to create a din by the clashing of bells,
horns and trumpets, etc.
n8
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
She frequents the baths by night; not till night
does she order her oil-jars and her quarters to be
shifted thither ; she loves all the bustle of the hot
bath ; when her arms drop exhausted by the heavy
weights, the anointer passes his hand skilfully over
her body, bringing it down at last with a resounding
smack upon her thigh. Meanwhile her unfortunate
guests are overcome with sleep and hunger, till at
last she comes in with a flushed face, and with thirst
enough to drink off the vessel containing full three
gallons which is laid at her feet, and from which she
tosses off a couple of pints before her dinner to
create a raging appetite ; then she brings it all up
again and souses the floor with the washings of her
inside. The stream runs over the marble pavement ;
the gilt basin reeks of Falernian, for she drinks and
vomits like a big snake that has tumbled into a vat.
The sickened husband closes his eyes and so keeps
down his bile.
434 But most intolerable of all is the woman who
as soon as she has sat down to dinner commends
Virgil, pardons the dying Dido, and pits the poets
against each other, putting Virgil in the one scale
and Homer in the other. The grammarians make
way before her ; the rhetoricians give in ; the whole
crowd is silenced : no lawyer, no auctioneer will get
a word in, no, nor any other woman ; so torrential
is her speech that you would think that all the pots
and bells were being clashed together. Let no
one more blow a trumpet or clash a cymbal : one
woman will be able to bring succour to the labouring
moon ! * She lays down definitions, and discourses
on morals, like a philosopher ; thirsting to be deemed
both wise and eloquent, she ought to tuck up her
119
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
caedere Silvano porcum, quadrante lavarl
non habeat matrona, tibi quae iuncta recumbit,
dicendi genus aut curvum sermone rotato
torqueat enthymema, nee historias sciat omnes, 450
sed quaedam ex libris et non intellegat. odi
banc ego quae repetit volvitque Palaemonis artem
servata semper lege et ratione loquendi
ignotosque mihi tenet antiquaria versus
nee curanda viris l opicae castigat amicae 455
verba ; soloecismum bceat fecisse marito.
Nil non permittit mulier sibi, turpe putat nil,
cum virides gemmas collo circumdedit et cum
auribus extentis magnos commisit elencbos ;
intolerabilius nihil est quam femina dives. 460
interea foeda aspectu ridendaque multo
pane tumet facies aut pinguia Poppaeana
spirat, et hinc miseri viscantur labra mariti :
ad moecbum lota veniunt cute, quando videri
vult formosa domi ? moechis foliata parantur, 465
his emitur quid quid gi*aciles hue mittitis Indi.
tandem aperit vultum et tectoria prima reponit ;
incipit agnosci, atque illo lacte fovetur
propter quod secum comites educit asellas
exul Hyperboreum si dimittatur ad axem. 470
1 Housm. puts a full stop after viris, and interprets :
aliasque res virorum cura indignas. Postgate suggests, after
one of Ruperti's MSS. , haec curanda viris ?
1 i.e. wear the short tunic of a man.
2 Only men sacrificed to Silvanus.
3 i.e. bathe in the public baths.
* A treatise on grammar by Q. Remmius Palaemon, the
most famous grammarian of the early empire.
120
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
skirts knee-high,1 sacrifice a pig to Silvanus,2 and
take a penny bath.3 Let not the wife of your bosom
possess a special style of her own ; let her not hurl
at you in whirling speech the crooked enthymeme !
Let her not know all history ; let there be some
things in her reading which she does not under-
stand. I hate a woman who is for ever consulting
and poring over the " Grammar " of Palaemon,4
who observes all the rules and laws of language, who
quotes from ancient poets that I never heard of, and
corrects her unlettered 5 female friends for slips of
speech that no man need trouble about : let hus-
bands at least be permitted to make slips in grammar !
457 There is nothing that a woman will not permit
herself to do, nothing that she deems shameful, when
she encii'cles her neck with green emeralds, and
fastens huge pearls to her elongated ears : there is no-
thing more intolerable than a wealthy woman. Mean-
while she ridiculously puffs out and disfigures her face
with lumps of dough ; she reeks of rich Poppaean 6
unguents which stick to the lips of her unfortunate
husband. Her lover she will meet with a clean-
washed skin ; but when does she ever care to look
nice at home ? It is for her lovers that she provides
the spikenard, for them she buys all the scents which
the slender Indians bring to us. In good time she
discloses her face ; she removes the first layer of
plaster, and begins to be recognisable. She then laves
herself with that milk for which she takes a herd
of she-asses in her train if sent away to the Hyper-
5 The word Opican is equivalent to Oscan, denoting the
early inhabitants of Campania. It is used here as equivalent
to barbarian.
6 Cosmetics, called after Nero's wife Poppaea.
121
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
sed quae mutatis inducitur atque fovetur
tot medicaminibus coctaeque siliginis offas
accipit et madidae, facies dicetur an ulcus ?
Est pretium curae penitus cognoscere toto
quid faciant agitentque die. si nocte maritus 475
aversus iacuit, periit libraria, ponunt
cosmetae tunicas, tarde venisse Liburnus
dicitur et poenas alieni pendere somni
cogitur ; hie frangit ferulas, rubet ille flagello,
hie scutica ; sunt quae tortoribus annua praestent. 480
verberat atque obiter faciem Unit, audit arnicas,
aut latum pictae vestis considerat aurum,
et caedit, longi relegit transversa diurni
et caedit, donee lassis caedentibus " exi "
intonet horrendum iam cognitione peracta. 485
Praefectura domus Sicula non mitior aula ;
nam si constituit solitoque decentius optat
ornari et properat iamque expectatur in hortis
aut aput Isiacae potius sacraria lenae,
disponit crinem laceratis ipsa capillis 490
nuda umero Psecas infelix nudisque mamillis.
" altior hie quare cincinnus? " taurea punit
continuo flexi crimen facinusque capilli.
quid Psecas admisit ? quaenam est hie culpa puellae,
1 «'.e. the husband's.
2 The text reads as if the flogging was done by the lady
herself. But it was evidently done for her by slaves.
3 Books were usually written lengthwise on the roll ; but
it seems that the acta diurna, here mentioned, were written
crosswise.
122
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
borean pole. But when she has been coated over
and treated with all those layers of medicaments,
and had those lumps of moist dough applied to it,
shall we call it a face or a sore ?
474 It is well worth while to ascertain how these
ladies busy themselves all day. If the husband has
turned his back upon his wife at night, the wool-
maid is done for ; the tire-women will be stripped of
their tunics ; the Liburnian chair-man will be accused
of coming late, and will have to pay for another
man's J drowsiness ; one will have a rod broken over
his back, another will be bleeding from a strap, a
third from the cat ; some women engage their execu-
tioners by the year. While the flogging goes on,
the lady will be daubing her face, or listening to
her lady-friends, or inspecting the widths of a gold-
embroidered robe. While thus flogging and flog-
ging,2 she reads the lengthy Gazette, written right
across the page,3 till at last, the floggers being ex-
hausted, and the inquisition ended, she thunders out
a gruff " Be off with you ! "
4S(3 Her household is governed as cruelly as a Sici-
lian Court.4 If she has an appointment and wishes
to be turned out more nicely than usual, and is in
a hurry to meet some one waiting for her in the
gardens, or more likely near the chapel of the
wanton Isis, the unhappy maid that does her hair
will have her own hair torn, and the clothes stripped
off her shoulders and her breasts. " Why is this curl
standing up ? " she asks, and then down comes a
thonff of bull's hide to inflict chastisement for the
offending ringlet. Pray how was Psecas in fault?
How would the girl be to blame if you happened
* In allusion to Phalaris, tyrant of Agrigentum.
123
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
si tibi displicuit nasus tuus ? altera laevum 495
extendit pectitque comas et volvit in orbem.
est in consilio materna admotaque lanis
emerita quae cessat acu ; sententia prima
huius erit, post banc aetate atque arte minores
censebunt, tamquam famae discrimen agatur 500
aut animae : tanta est quaerendi cura decoris,
tot premit ordinibus, tot adhuc conpagibus altum
aedifieat caput ; Andromacben a fronte videbis ;
post minor est, credas aliam. cedo si breve parvi
sortita est latei-is spatium breviorque videtur 505
virgine Pygmaea nullis adiuta cothurnis
et levis erecta consurgit ad oscula planta.
nulla viri cura interea nee mentio net
damnorum. vivit tamquam vicina mariti,
hoc solo propior quod amicos coniugis odit 510
et servos, gravis est rationibus.
Ecce furentis
Bellonae matrisque deum chorus intrat et ingens
semivir, obscaeno facies reverenda minori,
mollia qui rapta secuit genitalia testa
iam pridem, cui rauca cohors, cui tympana cedunt, 515
plebeia et Pbrygia vestitur bucca tiara.
grande sonat metuique iubet Septembris et Austri
adventum, nisi se centum lustraverit ovis
et xerampelinas veteres donaverit ipsi,
ut quidquid subiti et magni discriminis instat 520
in tunicas eat et totum semel expiet annum.
hibernum fracta glacie descendet in amnem,
1 Hector's wife Andromache must be tall, as living in the
heroic age.
124
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
not to like the shape of your own nose ? Another
maid on the left side combs out the hair and rolls it
into a coil ; a maid of her mother's, who has served
her time at sewing, and has been promoted to the
wool department, assists at the council. She is the
first to give her opinion ; after her, her inferiors in
age or skill will give theirs, as though some question
of life or honour were at stake. So important is the
business of beautification ; so numerous are the tiers
and storeys piled one upon another on her head !
In front, you would take her for an Andromache1 ;
she is not so tall behind : you would not think it
was the same person. What if nature has made her
so short of stature that, if unaided by high heels,
she looks no bigger than a pigmy, and has to rise
nimbly on tip-toe for a kiss ! Meantime she pays no
attention to her husband ; she never speaks of what
she costs him. She lives with him as if she were
only his neighbour ; in this alone more near to him,
that she hates his friends and his slaves, and plays
the mischief with his money.
511 And now, behold ! in comes the chorus of the
frantic Bellona and the mother of the Gods, attended
by a giant eunuch to whom his obscene inferiors
must do reverence. . . . Before him the howling herd
with the timbrels give way ; his plebeian cheeks are
covered with a Phrygian tiara. With solemn utter-
ance he bids the lady beware of the September
Siroccos if she do not purify herself with a hundred
eggs, and present him with some old mulberry-coloured
garments in order that any great and unforeseen
calamity may pass into the clothes, and make ex-
piation for the entire year. In winter she will go
down to the river of a morning, break the ice, and
125
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
ter matutino Tiberi mergetur et ipsis
verticibus timidum caput abluet, inde superbi
totum regis agrum nuda ac tremibunda cruentis 525
erepet genibus ; si Candida iusserit Io,
ibit ad Aegypti finem calidaque petitas
a Meroe povtabit aquas ut spargat in aede
IsidiSj antiquo quae proxima surgit ovili.
credit enim ipsius dominae se voce moneri : 530
en animam et mentem cum qua di nocte loquantur !
ergo hie praecipuum summumque meretur honorem,
qui grege linigero circumdatus et grege calvo
plangentis populi currit derisor Anubis.
ille petit veniam, quotiens non abstinet uxor 535
concubitu sacris observandisque diebus
magnaque debetur violato poena cadurco
et movisse caput visa est argentea serpens ;
illius lacrimae meditataque murmura praestant
ut veniara culpae non abnuat, ansere magno 540
scilicet et tenui popano corruptus, Osiris.
Cum dedit ille locum, cophino faenoque relicto
arcanam Iudaea tremens mendicat in aurem,
interpres legum Solymarum et magna sacerdos
arboris ac summi fida internuntia caeli. 545
implet et ilia manum, set parcius ; aere minuto
qualiacumque voles Iudaei somnia vendunt.
1 i.e. the Campus Martius.
2 Apparently here identified with Isis. Io was changed
into a white cow by Juno out of jealousy.
3 An island formed by the waters of the Nile. See xiij. 163.
4 The Temple of Isis was in the Campus Martius near the
polling-booths (saepta) here called ovile.
6 A god of the dead ; he attended on Isis, and is repre-
sented with the head of a dog.
6 The priest who personates Anubis laughs at the people
when they lament Osiris.
126
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
plunge three times into the Tiber, dipping her
trembling head in its whirling waters, and crawling
out thence naked and shivering, she will creep with
bleeding knees right across the field x of Tarquin
the Proud. If the white Io 2 shall so order, she will
journey to the confines of Egypt, and fetch water
from hot Meroe3 with which to sprinkle the Temple
of Isis which stands hard by the ancient sheepfold.4
For she believes that the command was given by the
voice of the Goddess herself — a pretty kind of mind
and spirit for the Gods to have converse with by
night ! Hence the chief and highest place of honour
is awarded to Anubis,5 who, with his linen-clad and
shaven crew, mocks at the weeping of the people as
he runs along.6 He it is that obtains pardon for
wives who break the law of purity on days that
should be kept holy, and exacts huge penalties
when the coverlet has been profaned, or when the
silver serpent has been seen to nod his head. His
teai-s and carefully-studied mutterings make sure
that Osiris will not refuse a pardon for the fault,
bribed, no doubt, by a fat goose and a slice of
sacrificial cake.
642 No sooner has that fellow departed than a
palsied Jewess, leaving her basket and her truss of
hay,7 comes begging to her secret ear ; she is an in-
terpreter of the laws of Jerusalem, a high priestess
of the tree,8 a trusty go-between of highest heaven.
She, too, fills her palm, but more sparingly, for a
Jew will tell you dreams of any kind you please for
the minutest of coins.
7 See iii. 14 : Iuclaei quorum cophinus faenumque supellcx.
8 Jews were allowed to camp out under trees as gipsies do
in our own country. See iii. 15, 16.
127
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
Spondet amatorem tenerum vel divitis orbi
testamentum ingens calidae pulmone columbae
tractato Armenius vel Commagenus haruspex ; 550
pectora pullorum rimabitur, exta catelli,
interdum et pueri ; faciet quod deferat ipse.
Chaldaeis set maior erit fiducia : quidquid
dixerit astrologus, credent a fonte relatum
Hammonis, quoniarii Delphis oracula cessant 555
et genus humanum damnat caligo futuri.
praecipuus tamen est horum, qui saepius exul,
cuius amicitia conducendaque tabella
mao-nus civis obit et formidatus Othoni.1
inde fides artis, sonuit si dextera ferro 560
laevaque, si longe castrorum in earcere mansit.
nemo mathematicus genium indemnatus habebit,
sed qui paene perit, cui vix in Cyclada mitti
contigit et parva tandem caruisse Seripho.
Consulit ictericae lento de funere matris, 565
ante tamen de te Tanaquil tua, quando sororem
efferat et patruos, an sit victurus adulter
post ipsam : quid enim maius dare numina possunt ?
haec tamen ignorat 2 quid sidus triste minetur
Saturni, quo laeta Venus se proferat astro, 570
quis mensis damnis, quae dentur tempora lucro :
i Lines 558-9 are omitted in some MSS., and seem out of
P *haeceignorat GLOU: haec ignorant T: hae ignorant
Biich (1S93).
i According to Tac. Hist. i. 22 the name of Otho's astro-
loger was Ptolemy. 2 The emperor Galba.
128
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
548 An Armenian or Commagenian sooth-sayer,
after examining the lungs of a dove that is still
warm, will promise a youthful lover, or a big bequest
from some rich and childless man ; he will probe
the breast of a chicken, or the entrails of a dog,
sometimes even of a boy ; some things he will do
with the intention of informing against them himself.
553 Still more trusted are the Chaldaeans ; every
word uttered by the astrologer they will believe has
come from Hammon's fountain, for now that the Del-
phian oracles are dumb, man is condemned to darkness
as to his future. Chief among these was one1 who was
oft in exile, through. whose friendship and venal pro-
phecies the great citizen2 died whom Otho feared.
For nowadays no astrologer has credit unless he have
been imprisoned in some distant camp, with chains
clanking on either arm ; none believe in his powers un-
less he has been condemned and all but put to death,
having just contrived to get deported to a Cyclad, or
to escape at last from the diminutive Seriphos.3
565 Your excellent Tanaquil 4 consults as to the
long-delayed death of her jaundiced mother — having
previously enquired about your own ; she will ask
when she may expect to bury her sister, or her
uncles ; and whether her lover will outlive herself —
what greater boon could the Gods bestow upon her?
And yet your Tanaquil does not herself understand
the gloomy threats of Saturn, or under what constella-
tion Venus will show herself propitious, which months
will be months of losses, which of gains ; but beware
3 One of the smaller Cyclades (Serpho), a well-known place
of exile.
4 i.e. his wife. Tanaquil was wife of Tarquinius Priscus
{perita caekslium prodigiorum, Liv. i. 34).
129
K
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
illius occursus etiam vitare memento,
in cuius manibus ceu pinguia sucina tritas
cernis ephemeridas, quae nullum consulit et iam
consulitur, quae castra viro patriamque petente 575
non ibit pariter numeris revocata Thrasylli.
ad primum lapidem vectari cum placet, hora
sumitur ex libro ; si prurit frictus ocelli
angulus, inspecta genesi collyria poscit ;
aegra licet iaceat, capiendo nulla videtur 580
aptior hora cibo nisi quam dederit Petosiris.
Si mediocris erit, spatium lustrabit utrimque
metarum et sortes ducet frontemque manumque
praebebit vati crebrum poppysma roganti.
divitibus responsa dabit l Phryx augur, et Indus 2 585
conductus, dabit astrorum mundique peritus
atque aliquis senior qui publica fulgura condit :
plebeium in circo positum est et in aggere fatum ;
quae nudis longum ostendit cervicibus aurum
consulit ante falas delplnnorumque columnas 590
an saga vendenti nubat caupone relicto.
Hae tamen et partus subeunt discrimen et omnis
nutricis tolerant fortuna urguente labores ;
i dabit ¥G: dabunt FTU. .
» indus Brit. 15 u xvii: hide P^ : ^.\U:nSn.a.nd
Btich. (1893) Indae: Housm. arid Buch. (1910) indt.
Housm. thinks a line has dropped out,
i Roman ladiea carried balls of amber in their hands,
either as a scent or for warmth.
* The favourite astrologer of Tiberius.
3 An ancient Egyptian astrologer.
* The metae were the turning-posts at each end ot tbe low
wall («r»na) round which the chariots had to turn. Each mela
consisted of a group of conical pillars with dolphins on them.
6 Poppysma is a smacking sound made by the lips ; it was
130
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
of ever encountering one whom you see clutching a
well-worn calendar in her hands as if it were a ball
of clammy amber 1 ; one who inquires of none, but is
now herself inquired of; one who, if her husband is
going forth to camp, or returning home from abroad,
will not bear him company if the numbers of Thrasyl-
lus 2 call her back. If she wants to drive as far as
the first mile-stone, she finds the right hour from
her book ; if there is a sore place in the corner of
her eye, she will not call for a salve until she has
consulted her horoscope: and if she be ill in bed,
deems no hour so suitable for taking food as that
prescribed to her by Petosiris.3
582 If the woman be of humble rank, she will pro-
menade between the turning-posts 4 of the Circus ;
she will have her fortune told, and will present her
brow and her hand to the seer who asks for many
an approving smack.6 Wealthy women will pay for
answers from a Phrygian or Indian augur well
skilled in the stars and the heavens, or one of the
elders employed to expiate thunderbolts. Plebeian
destinies are determined in the Circus or on the
ramparts 6 : the woman 7 who displays a long gold
chain on her bare neck inquires before the pillars
and the clusters of dolphins whether she shall
throw over the tavern-keeper and marry the old-
clothes-man.
592 These poor women, however, endure the perils
of child-birth, and all the troubles of nursing to
which their lot condemns them ; but how often
apparently a sign of approval and satisfaction. These
sounds are made by the consulting party.
6 The famous rampart of Servius Tullius, wmen protected
Rome on its eastern side.
7 Apparently alluding to a low class of women.
131
K 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
sed iacet aurato vix ulla puerpera lecto.
tantum avtes huius, tantum medicamina possunt, 595
quae steriles facit atque homines in ventre necandos
conducit. gaude, infelix, atque ipse bibendum
porrige quidquid erit ; nam si distendere vellet
et vexare uterum pueris salientibus, esses
Aethiopis fortasse 'pater, mox decolor heres
impleret tabulas numquam tibi mane videndus.
Transeo suppositos et gaudia votaque saepe
ad spurcos decepta lacus, atque inde petitos
pontifices, salios Scaurorum nomina falso
corpore laturos. stat Fortuna inproba noctu 605
adridens nudis infantibus ; bos fovet omnes l
involvitque sinu, domibus tunc porrigit altis
secretumque sibi mimum parat ; hos amat, his se
ino-erit utque suos semper producit alumnos.
Hie magicos adfert cantus, hie Thessala yendit 610
philtra, quibus valeat mentem vexare mariti
et solea pulsare natis : quod desipis, inde est,
inde animi caligo et magna oblivio rerum
quas modo gessisti. tamen hoc tolerabile, si non-
et furere incipias ut avunculus ille Neronis, 615
cui totam tremuli frontem Caesonia pulli
1 omnes 4> : omni PT and most edd. _
> Some MSS. here insert three lines not given above (one
MS places them after 601). See Housm. on this passage,
and also in C.R. vol. xv. 265 aqq. See also Owen s note.
i These were pools or reservoirs in which infanta were
exposed. Fortune delights in spiriting these foundlings into
the houses of the great.
a The priests of Mars, recruited from noble families.
a Thessaly was famous for witches and the magic art.
The husband here is made mad by a love-potion.
132
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
does a gilded bed contain a woman that is lying in ?
So great is the skill, so powerful the drugs, of the
abortionist, paid to murder mankind within the womb.
Rejoice, poor wretch ; give her the stuff to drink
whatever it be, with your own hand : for were she
willing to get big and trouble her womb with
bouncing babes, you might perhaps find yourself the
father of an Ethiopian ; and some day a coloured
heir, whom you would rather not meet by daylight,
would fill all the places in your will.
602 I say nothing of supposititious children, of the
hopes and prayers so often cheated at those filthy
pools1 from which are supplied Priests and Salii,2
with bodies that will falsely bear the name of
Scauri. There Fortune shamelessly takes her stand
by night, smiling on the naked babes ; she fondles
them all and folds them in her bosom, and then,
to provide herself with a secret comedy, she sends
them forth to the houses of the great. These are
the children that she loves, on these she lavishes
herself, and with a laugh brings them always for-
ward as her own.
610 One man supplies magical spells ; another sells
Thessalian3 charms by which a wife may upset
her husband's mind, and lather his buttocks with
a slipper; thence come loss of reason, and dark-
ness of soul, and blank forgetfulness of all that
you did but yesterday. Yet even that can be en-
dured, if only you become not raving mad like
that uncle i of Nero's into whose drink Caesonia
poured the whole brow of a weakly foal 5 ; and what
4 The emperor Caligula. His wife Caesonia was said to
have made him mad by a love-philtre.
6 Alluding to the hippomanea, an excrescence on the head
of a young foal, which was used in love-potiona.
133
IVVENALIS SATVRA VI
infudit. quae non faciet quod principis uxor ?
avdebant cuncta et fracta conpage ruebant,
non aliter quam si fecisset Iuno maritum
insanum. minus ergo nocens erit Agrippinae 620
boletus, siquidem unius praecordia pressit
ille senis tremulumque caput descendere iussit
in caelum et longa manantia labra saliva ;
haec poscit ferrum.atque ignes, baec potio torquet,
baec lacerat mixtos equitum cum sanguine patres. 625
tanti partus equae, tanti una venefica constat.
Oderunt natos de paelice : nemo repugnet,
nemo vetet, iam iam privignum occidere fas est.
vos ego, pupilli, moneo, quibus amplior est res,
custodite animas et nulli credite mensae : 630
livida materno fervent adipata veneno.
mordeat ante aliquis quidquid porrexerit ilia
quae peperit, timidus praegustet pocula papas.
Fingimus haec altum satura sumente cothurnum
scilicet, et finem egressi legemque priorum 635
grande Sophocleo carmen bacchamur hiatu,
montibus ignotum Rutulis caeloque Latino ?
nos utinam vani. set clamat Pontia " feci,
confiteor, puerisque meis aconita paravi,
quae deprensa patent ; facinus tamen ipsa peregi." 640
tune duos una, saevissima vipera, cena ?
tune duos ? " septem, si septem forte fuissent ! "
1 A^rippina the younger murdered her husband, the Em-
peror °Claudius, by a dish of mushrooms (Tac. Ann. xu. 57,
Suet. 44). See v. 147.
*34
JUVENAL, SATIRE VI
woman will not follow when an Empress leads the
way ? The whole world was ablaze then and falling
down in ruin just as if Juno had made her husband
mad. Less guilty therefore will Agrippina's mush-
room1 be deemed, seeing that it only stopped the
breath of one old man, and sent down his palsied
head and slobbering lips to heaven, whereas the
other potion demanded fire and sword and torture,
mingling Knights and Fathers in one mangled
bleeding heap. Such was the cost of one mare's
offspring and of one she-poisoner.
627 A wife hates the children of a concubine ; let
none demur or forbid, seeing that it has long been
deemed right and proper to slay a stepson. But I
warn you wards — you that have a good estate — keep
watch over your lives ; trust not a single dish : those
hot cakes are black with poison of a mother's baking.
Whatever is offered you by the mother, let someone
taste it first ; let your trembling tutor take the first
taste of every cup.
634 Noav think you that all this is a fancy tale, and
that our Satire is taking to herself the high heels
of tragedy? Think you that I have out-stepped
the limits and the laws of those before me, and am
mouthing in Sophoclean tones a grand theme un-
known to the Rutulian hills and the skies of Latium ?
Would indeed that my words were idle ! But here is
Pontia proclaiming " I did the deed ; I gave aconite,
I confess it, to my own children; the crime was
detected, and is known to all; yes, with my own
hands I did it." "What, you most savage of vipers?
you killed two, did you, two, at a single meal?"
" Aye, and seven too, had there chanced to be seven
to kill ! "
135
IVVENALIS SATVRA VII
Credamus tragicis quidquid de Colchide torva
dicitur et Progne ; nil contra conor. et illae
grandia monstra suis audebant temporibus, sed 645
non propter nummos ; minor admiratio summis
debetur monstris, quotiens facit ira nocentes
hunc sexum et rabie iecur incendente feruntur
praecipites, ut saxa iugis abrupta, quibus mons
subtrahitur clivoque latus pendente recedit : 650
illam ego non tulerim, quae conputat et scelus ingens
sana facit. spectant subeuntem fata mariti
Alcestim, et similis si permutatio detur,
morte viri cupiant animam servare catellae.
occurrent multae tibi Belides atque Eriphylae 655
mane, Clytaeinestram null us non vicus habebit.
hoc tantum refert, quod Tyndaris ilia bipennem
insulsam et fatuam dextra laevaque tenebat,
at nunc res agitur tenui pulmone rubetae ;
sed tamen et ferro, si praegustabit * Atrides 660
Pontica ter victi cautus medicamina regis.
SATVRA VII
Et spes et ratio studiorum in Caesare tantum ;
solus enim tristes hac tempestate Camenas
1 praegmtabit PSG : praegustaret $ : praegustarit Markl.
and Housm.
1 Medea.
2 Procne, daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, revenged
herself on her husband, Tereus, by serving up to him the
flesh of his son Itys. She was turned into a swallow.
136
JUVENAL, SATIRE VII
648 Let us believe all that Tragedy tells us of the
savage Colchian l and of Procne 2 ; I seek not to
gainsay her. Those women were monsters of wicked-
ness in their day ; but it was not for money that
they sinned. We marvel less at great crimes when
it is wrath that incites the sex to the guilty deed,
when burning passion carries them headlong, like
a rock torn from a mountain side, when the ground
beneath gives way, and the overhanging slopes fall
in. I cannot endure the woman who calculates, and
commits a great crime in her sober senses. Our wives
look on at Alcestis undergoing her husband's fate ;
if they were granted a like liberty of exchange, they
would fain let the husband die to save a lap-dog's
life. You will meet a daughter of Belus 3 or an Eri-
phyle every morning : no street but has its Clytem-
nestra.4 The only difference is this : the daughter
of Tyndareus 5 wielded in her two hands a clumsy
two-headed axe, whereas nowadays a slice of a toad's
lung will do the business. Yet it may be done by
steel as well, if the wary husband have beforehand
tasted the medicaments of the thrice-conquered king
of Pontus.6
SATIRE VII
Learning and Letters Unprofitable
On Caesar alone hang all the hopes and prospects
of the learned ; he alone in these days of ours has
cast a favouring glance upon the sorrowing Muses —
3 Belus was the father of Danaus ; hence the Danaids are
called Belidae.
4 The Danaids (daughters of Danaus), Eriphvle, and
Clytemnestra, all killed their husbands.
5 Clytemnestra was daughter of Tyndareus.
6 Mithridates, who was said to have secured himself against
poisoning by prophylactics.
137
IVVENALIS SATVRA VII
respexit, cum iam celebres notique poetae
balneolum Gabiis, Romae conducere furnos
temptarent, nee foedum alii nee tuvpe putarent 5
praecones fieri, cum desertis Aganippes
vallibus esuriens migraret in atria Clio ;
nam si Pieria quadrans tibi nullus in umbra
ostendatur, ames nomen victumque Machaerae
et vendas potius commissa quod auctio vendit 10
stantibus, oenopborum tripedes armaria cistas,
Alcitheon Pacci, Thebas et Terea Fausti. ^
hoc satius quam si dicas sub iudice " vidi "
quod non vidisti, faciant equites Asiani
[quamquam et Cappadoces faciant equitesque
Bithyni,] 15
altera quos nudo traducit Gallia talo.
Nemo tamen studiis indignum ferre labovem
cogetur posthac, nectit quicumque canoris
eloquium vocale modis laurumque momordit.
hoc agite, o iuvenes. circumspicit et stimulat vos 20
materiamque sibi ducis indulgentia quaerit.
si qua aliunde putas rerum expectanda tuarum
praesidia atque ideo croceae membrana tabellae
impletur, lignorum aliquid posce ocius et quae
componis dona Veneris, Telesine, marito,
aut elude et positos tinea pertunde libellos.
frange miser calamum vigilataque proelia dele,
qui facis in parva sublimia carmina cella,
ut dignus venias hederis et imagine macra.
spes nulla ulterior ; didicit iam dives avarus
tantum admirari, tantum laudare disertos,
i An inspiring spring on Mt. Helicon, sacred to the Muses.
2 Apparently an auctioneer. 3 Apparently names of
tragedies. 4 Easterns originally imported as slaves, who had
risen to be equity. 6 t. e. as slaves from Galatia. Vulcan.
138
25
30
JUVENAL, SATIRE VII
at a time when poets of name and fame thought of
hiring baths at Gabii, or bakehouses in Rome, while
others felt no shame in becoming public criers, and
starving Clio herself, bidding adieu to the vales of
Aganippe,1 was flitting to the auction rooms. For if
you see no prospect of earning a groat within the
Muses' grove, you had better put up with Machaera's 2
name and profits and join in the battle of the
sale-room, selling to the crowd winejars, tripods,
book-cases and cupboards — the Alcithoe of Paccius,
the Thebes or the Tereus3 of Faustus ! How much
better that than to say before a judge " I saw " what
you did not see ! Leave that to the Knights of Asia,4
of Bithynia and Cappadocia — gentry that were im-
ported bare-footed 5 from New Gaul !
/u But from this day forth no man who weaves the
tuneful web of song and has bitten Apollo's laurel
will be compelled to endure toil unworthy of his
craft. To your task, young men ! Your Prince is
looking around and goading you on, seeking objects
for his favour. If you expect patronage from any other
quarter, and in that hope are filling up the parchment
of your saffron tablet, you had better order faggots
at once, Telesinus, and present your productions to
the spouse6 of Venus ; or else put away your tomes,
and let bookworms bore holes in them where they
lie. Break your pen, poor wretch ; destroy the battles
that have robbed you of your sleep — you that are
inditing lofty strains in a tiny garret, that you may
come forth worthy of a scraggy bust 7 wreathed with
ivy ! No hope have you beyond that ; your rich miser
has now learnt only to admire, only to commend the
7 The busts of poets were wreathed with ivy (doctarum
hederae praemiafrontium, Hor. Od. I. i. 29).
139
IVVENALIS SATVRA VII
ut pueri Iunonis avem. sed defluit aetas
et pelagi patiens et cassidis atque ligonis.
taedia tunc subeunt animos, tunc seque suamque
Terpsichoren odit facunda et nuda senectus. 35
Accipe nunc artes ne quid tibi conferat iste
quern colis et Musarum et Apollinis aede relicta.
ipse facit versus, atque uni cedit Homero
propter mille annos. et si dulcedine famae
succensus recites, maculosas l commodat aedes ; 40
haec longe ferrata domus servire iubetur,
in qua sollicitas imitatur ianua portas.
scit dare libertos extrema in parte sedentis
ordinis et magnas comitum disponere voces :
nemo dabit regum quanti subsellia constant 45
et quae conducto pendent anabathra tigillo,
quaeque reportandis posita est orchestra cathedris.
nos tamen hoc agimus tenuique in pulvere sulcos
ducimus et litus sterili versamus aratro.
nam si discedas, laqueo tenet ambitiosi 50
[consuetudo mali, tenet insanabile rnultos] 2
scribendi cacoethes et aegro in corde senescit.
Sed vatem egregium, cui non sit publica vena,
qui nil expositum soleat deducere nee qui
i maculosas Heinr.: macidonsas Ribb.Housm.: maculonus
rL i maculonis PGBiich. , .
2 The text of lines 50-52 is evidently corrupt. Part of the
passage seems to be a gloss, but, even if line ,51 be eliminated
Fines 50 and 52 can scarcely be translated though the general
sense is clear.
140
JUVENAL, SATIRE VII
eloquent, just as boys admire the bird of Juno.1
Meantime the years flow by that could have endured
the sea, the helmet, or the spade ; the soul becomes
wearied, and an eloquent but penniless old age curses
itself and its own Terpsichore ! 2
36 And now learn the devices by which the patron
for whose favour you desert the temples of the
Muses and Apollo seeks to avoid spending anything
on you. He writes verses of his own; yielding the
palm to none but Homer — and that only because of
his thousand years. If the sweets of fame fire you to
give a recitation, he puts at your disposal a tumble-
down house in some distant quarter, the door of
which is closely barred like the gate of a beleaguered
city. He knows how to supply you with freedmen
to sit at the end of the rows, and how to distribute
about the room the stalwart voices of his retainers :
but none of your great men will give you as much
as will pay for the benches, or for the tiers of seats
resting on hired beams, or for the chairs in the
front rows which will have to be l-eturned when done
with. Yet for all that, we poets stick to our task ;
Ave e;o on drawing furrows in the thin soil, and turning
up the shore with unprofitable plough. For if you
would give it up, the itch for writing and making a
name holds you fast as with a noose, and becomes
inveterate in your distempered brain.
53 But your real poet, who has a vein of genius all
his own — one who spins no hackneyed lays, and
1 i.e. the peacock. 2 Properly the Muse of Dancing ;
used here, like Clio above, for poetry in general.
141
IVVENALIS SATVRA VII
cornmuni feriat carmen triviale moneta, 55
hunc, qualem nequeo monstrare et sentio tantum,
anxietate carens animus facit, omnis acerbi
inpatiens, cupidus silvarum aptusque bibendis
fontibus Aonidum. neque enim cantare sub antro
Pierio thyrsumque potest contingere maesta 60
paupertas atque aeris inops, quo nocte dieque
corpus eget : satur est cum dicit Horatius " euhoe ! "
quis locus ingeniOj nisi cum se carmine solo
vexant et dominis Cirrhae Nysaeque feruntur
pectora vestra duas non admittentia curas ? 65
magnae mentis opus, nee de lodice paranda
attonitae, currus et equos faciesque deorum
aspicere et qualis Rutulum confundat Erinys.
nam si Vergilio puer et tolerabile desset
hospitium, caderent omnes a crinibus hydri, 70
surda nihil gemeret grave bucina : poscimus ut sit
non minor antiquo Rubrenus Lappa cothurno,
cuius et alveolos et laenam pignerat Atreus ?
non habet infelix Numitor quod mittat amico :
Quintillae quod donet habet, nee defuit illi 75
unde emeret multa pascendum carne leonem
iam domitum ; constat leviori belua sumptu
nimirum et capiunt plus intestina poetae.
Contentus fama iaceat Lucanus in hortis
marmoreis, et Serrano tenuique Saleio 80
gloria quantalibet quid erit, si gloria tantum est ?
1 Apollo and Dionysus.
2 Turnus. See Virg. Atn. viii. 445-450.
142
JUVENAL, SATIRE VII
whose pieces are struck from no common mint — such
an one as I cannot point to, and only feel — is the
product of a soul free from care, that knows no
bitterness, that loves the woodlands, and is fitted to
drink at the Muses' spring. For how can unhappy
Poverty sing songs in the Pierian cave and grasp the
thyrsus when it is short of cash, which the body has
need of both by night and day ? Horace's stomach was
well filled when he shouted his cry of Evoc ! Where
can genius find a place except in a heart stirred by
song alone, that shuts out every thought but one, and
is swept along by the lords of Cirrha and of Nysa ! l
It needs a lofty soul, not one that is dismayed at the
cost of a coverlet, to have visions of chariots and
horses and Gods' faces, or to tell with what a mien the
Fury confounded the Rutulian2: had Virgil possessed
no slave, and no decent roof over his head, all the
snakes would have fallen from the Fury's hair ; no
dread note would have boomed from her voiceless
trumpet. Do we expect Rubrenus Lappa to be as
great in the buskin as the ancients, when his Atreus
has to be pawned for his cloak and crockery ? Numi-
tor, poor man, has nothing to give to a needy friend,
though he is rich enough to send presents to his
mistress, and he had enough, too, to buy a tamed
lion that needed masses of meat for his keep. It
costs less, no doubt, to keep a lion than a poet ; the
poet's belly is more capacious !
79 Lucan,3 indeed, reclining amid the statues of
his gardens, may be content with fame ; but what
will ever so much glory bring in to Serranus, or to
the starving Saleius, if it be glory only ? When
* The famous author of the Pharsalia, M. Annaeus
Lucanus, a.d. 39-65.
143
IVVENALIS SATVRA VII
curritur ad vocera iucundam et carmen amicae
Thebaidos, laetam cum fecit Statius urbem
promisitque diem : tanta dulcedine captos
adficit ille animos tantaque libidine volgi 85
auditur ; sed cum f regit subsellia versu,
esuritj intactam Paridi nisi vendit Agauen.
ille et militiae multis largituv honorem,
semenstri digitos vatum circumligat auro :
quod non dant proceres, dabit histrio; tu Camerinos 90
et Baream, tu nobilium magna atria curas ?
praefectos Pelopea facit, Philomela tribunos.
haut tamen invideas vati quern pulpita pascunt :
quis tibi Maecenas, quis nunc erit aut Proculeius
aut Fabius ? quis Cotta iterum, quis Lentulus alter ? 95
tunc par ingenio pretium, tunc utile multis
pallere et vinum toto nescire Decembri.
Vester porro labor fecundior, historiarum
scriptores ? perit ] hie plus temporis atque olei plus,
nullo quippe modo millensima pagina surgit 100
omnibus et crescit multa damnosa papyro ;
sic ingens rerum numerus iubet atque operum lex.
quae tamen inde seges ? terrae quis fructus apertae ?
quis dabit historico quantum daret acta legenti ?
1 perit PFG : petit \p.
1 P. Papinius Statius, author of the Tkehais, circ. a.d.61-96.
J Paris, a famous pantomimic dancer. There were two of
the name; one a favourite of Nero, executed by him as a
rival, a.d. 67 ; the other a favourite of Domitian, also
executed, a.d. 87. See Introduction.
3 The commanding officers of a Legion (tribuni) became
equitca after serving for six months. Claudius instituted the
practice of making honorary appointments, without service,
eo as to bestow the title of eques on his favourites.
144
JUVENAL, SATIRE VII
Statius 1 has gladdened the city by promising a day,
people flock to hear his pleasing voice and his loved
Thebais ; so charmed are their souls by his sweetness,
with such rapture does the multitude listen to him.
But when his verses have brought down the house,
poor Statius will starve if he does not sell his virgin
Agave to Paris 2 : for it is Paris who appoints men to
military commands ; it is Paris who puts the golden
ring round the poet's finger after six months of ser-
vice.3 You can get from a stage-player what no great
man will give you : why frequent the spacious ante-
chambers of the Bareae or the Camerini ? It is
Pelopea 4 that appoints our Prefects, and Philomela 4
our Tribunes ! Yet you need not begrudge the bard
who gains his living from the play-house : who now-
adays will be a Maecenas 5 to you, a' Proculeius, or a
Fabius ? who another Cotta, or a second Lentulus ?
Genius in those days met with its due reward ; many
then found their profit in pale cheeks and in abjuring
potations all through December.6
98 And is your labour more remunerative, ye
writers of history ? More time, more oil, is wasted
here ; regardless of all limit, the pages run up to
thousands ; the pile of paper is ever mounting to
your ruin. So ordains the vast array of facts, and
the rules of the craft. But what harvest will you
gather, what fruit, from the tilling of your land ?
Who will give to an historian as much as he gives to
the man who reads out the news ?
4 Name3 of pantomime plays.
6 A noble parron of letters, especially of Horace ; for
Proculeius, see Hor. Od. II. ii. 5. Paulus Fabius Maximus
was the patron of Ovid ; Cotta is panegyrised by Ovid, Epp.
ex P. ii. viii. ; P. Lentulus Spinther helped to recall Cicero
from banishment.
6 In reference to the festive season of the Saturnalia.
MS
IVVENALIS SATVRA VII
"Sed genus ignavum, quod lecto gaudet et
umbra." 105
die igitur quid causidicis civilia praestent
officia et magno comites in fasce libelli.
ipsi magna sonant, sed turn cum creditor audit
praecipue, vel si tetigit latus acrior illo
qui venit ad dubium grandi cum codice nomen. 110
tunc inmensa cavi spirant mendacia folles
conspuiturque sinus : veram deprendere messem
si libet, hinc centum patrimonia causidicorum,
parte alia solum russati pone Lacertae.1
consedere duces, surgis tu pallidus Aiax 115
dicturus dubia pro libertate bubulco
iudice. rumpe* miser tensum iecur, ut tibi lasso
figantur virides, scalarum gloria, palmae.
quod vocis pretium ? siccus petasunculus et vas
pelamydum aut veteres, Maurorum epimenia,
bulbi, 12°
aut vinum Tiberi devectum, quinque lagonae.
si quater egisti, si contigit aureus unus,
inde cadunt partes ex foedere pragmaticorum.
Aemilio dabitur quantum licet, et melius nos
egimus ; huius enim stat currus aeneus, alti 125
quadriiuges in vestibulis, atque ipse feroci
1 Lacertae \p : Lacernae P.
1 The creditor is one to whom the advocate owes money,
and before whom he wishes to make a good appearance ; the
acrior illo is a litigant whom the advocate hopes to secure
as a client. . . ,
2 Spitting or slobbering on the breast was considered
lucky to obviate the evil results of boasting.
3 Lacerta is apparently the name of a charioteer.
4 Alluding to the contest between Ajax and Achilles tor
the arms of Achilles. 06
146
JUVENAL, SATIRE VII
105 « o but historians are a lazy crew, that delight
in lounging and the shade." Tell me then what do
pleaders get for their services in the courts, and for
those huge bundles of papers which they bring with
them ? They talk big enough, especially if a creditor1
of their own happens to be listening : or if, more
urgent still, they get poked in the ribs by one who
has brought a huge ledger to claim a doubtful debt.
Then indeed do their capacious bellows pant forth pro-
digious lies ! Then are their breasts be-slobbered ! 2
and yet, if you want to discover their real gains,
you may put on one side the fortunes of a hundred
lawyers, on the other that of a single jockey of
the Red ! 3 The great men are seated ; you rise, a
pale-faced Ajax,4 to declaim before a bumpkin judge
in a case of contested liberty. Strain your lungs, poor
fool, until they burst, that when exhausted by your
labours some green palm-branches may be put up to
adorn your garret.6 What fee will your voice bring
in ? A dried-up ham 6 ; a jar of sprats ; some veteran
onions which would serve as rations for a Moor, or
five flagons of wine that has sailed down the Tiber.7
If you have pled on four occasions, and been lucky
enough to get a gold piece, a bit of it, as part of the
compact, will go to the attorney. Aemilius will get
the maximum legal fee,8 though he did not plead so
well as we did ; but then he has a bronze chariot in
his forecourt, with four stately steeds, and an effigy
5 The advocate who had won a case would have his stair
decorated.
9 Lawyers received presents in kind from their country
clients.
7 i.e. poor wine ; like the vile Sabinum of Hor. Od. i. xx. 1.
8 Aemilius was a noble ; the Lex Cincia (b.o. 204) placed
a limit upon lawyers' fees.
147
l 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA VII
bellatore sedens curvatum hastile minatur
eminus et statua meditatur proelia lusca.
sic Pedo conturbat, Matho deficit, exitus hie est
Tongilii, magno cum rhinocerote lavari 130
qui solet et vexat lutulenta balnea turba,
perque forum iuvenes longo premit assere Maedos
empturus pueros argentum murrina villas ;
spondet enim Tyrio stlattaria purpura filo.
et tamen est illis hoc utile : purpura vendit 135
causidicum, vendunt amethystina ; convenit illi
et strepita et facie maioris vivere census,
sed finem inpensae non servat prodiga Roma.
Fidimus eloquio x ? Ciceroni nemo ducentos
nunc dederit nummos, nisi fulserit anulus ingens. HO
respicit haec primum qui litigat, an tibi servi
octo, decern comites, an post te sella, togati
ante pedes, ideo conducta Paulus agebat
sardonyche, atque ideo pluris quam Gallus agebat,
quam Basilus. rara in tenui facundia panno. 145
quando licet Basilo flentem producere matrem ?
quis bene dicentem Basilum ferat ? accipiat te
Gallia vel potius nutricula causidicorum
Africa, si placuit mercedem ponere linguae.
Declamare doces ? o ferrea pectora Vetti, 150
cum perimit saevos classis numerosa tyrannos.
i Instead of fidimus eloquio $ has ut redeant veleres. See
Housm., Introd. p. xxv.
1 These men are ruined by imitating the extravagance of
their betters.
2 Flourishing schools of rhetoric were established under
the early Empire in Gaul, Spain, and Africa.
148
JUVENAL, SATIRE VII
of himself, seated on a gallant charger, brandishing
from afar a bending spear, and practising for battle
with one eye closed. That is how Pedo l becomes
bankrupt, and how Matho l fails ; and such will be
the end of Tongilius, who frequents the baths with a
huge oil-flask of rhinoceros horn, and disturbs the
bathers with a mob of dirty retainers. His Maedian
bearers are weighed down by the long poles of his
litter as he passes through the Forum on his way to
buy slaves or plate, agate vases or country houses ;
for that foreign robe of his, with its Tyrian purple,
gains him credit. These gentlemen get profit out
of this display ; the purple or the violet robe brings
practice to a lawyer ; it pays him to live with a
racket and an appearance beyond his means, and
wasteful Rome sets no limits to extravagance.
139 Trust in eloquence, indeed ? Why, no one
would give Cicero himself two hundred pence now-
adays unless a huge ring were blazing on his finger.
The first thing that a litigant looks to is, Have you
eight slaves and a dozen retainers ? Have you a
litter to wait on you, and gowned citizens to walk
before you ? That is why Paulus used to hire a sard-
onyx ring ; that is why he earned a higher fee than
Gallus or Basilus. When is eloquence ever found
beneath a shabby coat ? When does Basilus get the
chance of producing in court a weeping mother?
Who would listen to him, however well he spoke ?
Better go to Gaul or to Africa,2 that nursing mother of
lawyers, if you would make a living by your tongue !
150 Or do you teach rhetoric ? O Vettius ! what
iron bowels must you have when your troop of
scholars slays 3 the cruel tyrant : when each in turn
3 ».e. in a rhetorical exercise.
149
IVVENALIS SATVRA VII
nam quaecumque sedens modo legerat, haec
eadem stans ,
pevferet atque eadem cantabit versibus isdem;
occidit miseros crambe repetita magistros.
quis color et quod sit causae genus atque ubi
summa
quaestio, quae veniant diversa e parte* sagittae,
nosse volunt omnes, mercedem solvere nemo
« mercedem appellas ? quid enim scio ? culpa
docentis
scilicet arguitur, quod laevae parte mamillae
nil salit Arcadico iuveni, cuius mini sexta _ loU
quaque die miserum dims caput Hannibal inplet,
quidquid id est de quo deliberat, an petat urbem
a Cannis, an post nimbos et fulmina cautus
circumanal madidas a tempestate cohortes.
quantum vis stipulare et protinus accipe : quid ^
do . . ,..
ut totiens ilium pater audiat? haec alii sex
vel plures uno conclamant ore sophistae
et veras agitant lites raptore rehcto ;
fusa venena silent, malus ingratusque mantus
et quae iam veteres sanant mortana caecos. 170
' Ergo sibi dabit ipse rudem, si nostra movebunt
consilia, et vitae diversum iter ingredietur
ad pu«mam qui rhetorica descendit ab umbra,
summula ne pereat qua vilis tessera vemt
i parle. So *: P and Biich. have forte.
» quid TFGTU: quod ALO.
i For the meaning of color, see note on vi. 280.
I The EngTish idiom would be « What would I not give."
3 i.e. teachers, especially of rhetoric
4 The rhetor goes to law to recover his tees.
I50
JUVENAL, SATIRE VII
stands up, and repeats what he has just been con-
ning in his seat, reciting the self-same things in the
self-same verses! Served up again and again, the
cabbage is the death of the unhappy master ' What
complexion l should be put on the case ; within what
category it falls ; what is the crucial point ; what hits
will be made on the other side — these are things
which everyone wants to know, but for which no one
is willing to pay. " Pay indeed ? Why, what have I
learnt? " asks the scholar. It is the teacher's fault,
of course, that the Arcadian youth feels no flutter in
his left breast when he dins his " dire Hannibal " into
my unfortunate head on every sixth day of the week,
whatever be the question which he is pondering:
whether he should make straight for the city from
the field of Cannae, or whether, after the rain and
thunder, he should lead around his cohorts, all
dripping after the storm. Name any sum you please
and you shall have it : what would I give 2 that the
lad's father might listen to him as often as I do !
So cry half-a-dozen or more of our sophists 3 in one
breath, entering upon real lawsuits4 of their own,
abandoning "The Ravisher" and forgetting all
about "The Poisoner" or "The wicked and thank-
less Husband," or the drugs that restore sight to the
chronic blind.
171 And so, if my counsel goes for anything, I would
advise the man who comes down from his rhetorical
shade to fight for a sum that would buy a trumpery
corn-ticket5 — for that's the most handsome fee he
will ever get — to present himself with a discharge,6
5 A ticket for the gratuitous distributions of corn.
6 A retiring gladiator received a wooden sword {rudvi) as a
token of discharge.
I51
IVVENALIS SATVRA VII
frumenti ; quippe haec merces lautissima. tempta 175
Chrysogonus quanti doceat vel Polio quanti
lautorum pueros : artem scindes x Theodori
Balnea sescentis et pluris porticus in qua
gestetur dominus quotiens pluit — anne serenum
expectet spargatve luto iumenta recenti ? 180
hie potius, namque hie mundae nitet ungula mulae.
parte alia longis Numidavum fulta columnis
surgat et algentem rapiat cenatio solem.
quanticumque domus, veniet qui fercula docte
conponat,2 veniet qui pulmentaria condit.3 185
hos inter sumptus sestertia Quintiliano,
ut multum, duo sufficient ; res nulla minoris
constabit patri quam films. " unde igitur tot
Quintilianus habet saltus ? " exempla novorum
fatorum transi : felix et pulcer et acer, 190
felix et sapiens et nobilis et generosus
adpositam nigrae lunam subtexit alutae ;
felix orator quoque maximus et iaculator,
et si perfrixit, cantat bene, distat enim quae
sidera te excipiant modo primos incipientem 195
edere vagitus et adhuc a matre rubentem.
si Foi-tuna volet, fies4 de rhetore consul ;
si volet haec eadem, fiet de consule rhetor.
1 scindens P<J< : scindes conj. Iahn, confirmed by Voss. 64.
2 Componit GT. P and most MSS. have componat. See
Housm., Journal of Phil. No. 67, p. 41.
3 P has condit : LOU condat : condiat Lachmann.
4 fies ptj/ : fiei P.
1 Chrysogonus was a singer (vi. 74), Pollio a player on the
cithara (vi 387).
2 A famous rhetorician at Rhodes.
152
JUVENAL, SATIRE VII
and enter upon some other walk of life. If you ask
what fees Chrysogonus and Pollio x get for teaching
music to the sons of our great men, you will tear up
the Rhetoric of Theodorus.2
178 Your great man will spend six hundred thousand
sesterces upon his baths, and something more on
the colonnade in which he is to drive on rainy days.
What? Is he to wait for a clear sky, and bespatter
his horses with fresh mud? How much better to
drive where their hoofs will remain bright and spot-
less ! Elsewhere let a banqueting hall arise, sup-
ported on lofty pillai's of African marble, to catch the
winter sun. And cost the house what it may, there
will come a man to arrange the courses skilfully,
and the man who makes up the tasty dishes. Amidst
expenditure such as this two thousand sesterces will
be enough, and more than enough, for Quintilian :
there is nothing on which a father will not spend
more money than on his son. " How then," you ask,
"does Quintilian possess those vast domains? " Pass
by cases of rare good fortune : the lucky man 3 is
both beautiful and brave, he is wise and noble and
high-born ; he sews on to his black shoe the ci'escent
of the Senator. He is a great orator too, a good
javelin-man, and if he chance to have caught a cold,
he sings divinely. For it makes all the difference
by what stars you are welcomed when you utter
your first cry, and are still red from your mother's
womb. If Fortune so choose, you will become a
Consul from being a rhetor; if again she so wills,
you will become a rhetor from being a Consul.
8 Juvenal sarcastically assigns to the lucky man all the
qualities which the Stoics attributed to the sapiens. See
Hor. Epp. i. i. 106-108. Juvenal probably had an eye to
that passage.
153
IVVENALIS SATVRA VII
Ventidius quid enim ? quid Tullius? anne aliud
quam
sidus et occulti miranda potentia fati ? 200
servis regna dabunt, captivis fata triumphum.
felix ille tamen corvo quoque rarior albo.
paenituit multos vanae sterilisque cathedrae,
sicut Thrasimachi probat exitus atque Seeundi
Carrinatis ; et hunc inopem vidistis, Athenae, 205
nil praeter gelidas ausae conferre cicutas.
di, maiorum umbris tenuem et sine pondere terram
spirantisque crocos et in urna perpetuum ver,
qui praeceptorem sancti voluere parentis
esse loco, metuens virgae iam grandis Achilles 210
cantabat patriis in montibus et cui non tunc
eliceret risum citharoedi cauda magistri ;
sed Rufum atque alios caedit sua quemque iuventus,
Rufum, quern totiens Ciceronem Allobroga dixit.
Quis gremio Celadi doctique Palaemonis adfert 215
quantum grammaticus meruit labor ? et tamen ex hoc
quodcumque est, minus est autem quam rhetoris aera,
discipuli custos praemordet acoenonoetus 1
et qui dispensat frangit sibi. cede, Palaemon,
1 acoenonoetus PS: acoenonetos U {q.koivwv7)to$ "refusing
to go shares").
1 P. Ventidius Bassus rose from nothing to be consul
B.C. 43; he triumphed over the Parthians.
2 Cicero.
s Both rhetoricians. Carrinas was banished by Caligula,
and apparently hanged himself.
* The reference must surely be to Socrates ; though Ulum
■would have been more appropriate than hunc.
154
JUVENAL, SATIRE VII
What of Ventidius l and Tullius ?2 What made then-
fortunes but the stars and the wondrous potency of
secret Fate ? The Fates will give kingdoms to a slave,
and triumphs to a captive ! Nevertheless that for-
tunate man is rare — rarer than a white crow. Many
have repented them of the Professor's vain and un-
profitable chair ; witness the ends of Thrasymachus 3
and Secundus Carrinas.3 Him too didst thou see in
poverty on whom thou, O Athens, hadst nothing
better to bestow than a cup of cold hemlock ! 4
Grant, O Gods, that the earth may lie soft and light
upon the shades of our forefathers : may the sweet-
scented crocus and a perpetual spring-time bloom
over their ashes ; who deemed that the teacher
should hold the place of a revered parent ! Achilles
trembled for fear of the rod when already of full
age, singing songs in his native hills ; nor would he
then have dared to laugh at the tail of his musical
instructor.5 But Rufus and the rest are cudgelled
each by his own pupils — that Rufus6 whom they
have so often styled "the Allobrogian Cicero."
215 Who pours into the lap of Celadus, or of the
learned Palaemon,7 as much as their grammatical
labours deserve ? And yet, small as the fee is —
and it is smaller than the rhetor's wage — the
pupil's unfeeling s attendant nibbles off a bit of it
for himself; so too does the steward. But give in,
s Achilles was instructed in the lyre by the Centaur
Chiron.
6 Rufus was apparently an Allobrogian. The Allobroges
occupied the country between the Rhone and the Isere.
7 Q. Remmius Palaemon, a famous Roman grammarian in
the time of Tiberius and Caligula.
8 Acoe.nonoe.tus is one of those Greek terms whose use
Juvenal wishes to ridicule. The Scholiast explains it as
communi sensu carens. See Mayor.
155
IVVENALIS SATVRA VII
et patere inde aliquid decrescere, non aliter
quam 220
institor hibernae tegetis niveique cadurci,
dummodo non pereat mediae quod noctis ab hora
sedisti, qua nemo faber, qua nemo sederet
qui docet obliquo lanam deducere ferro ;
dummodo non pereat totidem olfecisse lucernas 225
quot stabant pueri, cum totus decolor esset
Flaccus et haereret nigro fuligo Maroni.
Rara tamen merces quae cognitione tribuni
non egeat. sed vos saevas inponite leges,
ut praeceptori verborum regula constet, 230
ut legat historias, auctores noverit omnes
tamquam ungues digitosque suos, ut forte rogatus
dum petit aut thermas aut Phoebi balnea, dicat
nutricem Anchisae, nomen patriamque novercae
Anchemoli, dicat quot Acestes vixerit annis, 235
quot Siculi Phrygibus vini donaverit urnas ;
exigite ut mores teneros ceu pollice ducat,
ut si quis cera voltum facit ; exigite ut sit
et pater ipsius coetus, ne turpia ludant,
ne faciant vicibus ; non est leve tot puerorum 240
observare manus oculosque in fine trementis.
"haec," inquit, "cura, sed1 cum se verterit annus,
accipe, victori populus quod postulat, aurum."
i cura sed G and one of Ruperti's MSS. : curas et P^/ and
Biich. (1893) : cures et Owen.
156
JUVENAL, SATIRE VII
Palaemon ; suffer some diminution of your wage, like
the hawker who sells rags and white Gallic blankets
for winter wear, if only it do not go for nothing that
you have sat from early dawn in a hole which no
blacksmith would put up with, no workman who
teaches how to card wool with slanting tool : that it
do not go for nothing to have snuffed up the odour
of as many lamps as you had scholars in your class
thumbing a discoloured Horace or a begrimed
Virgil.
228 But it is seldom that the fee can be recovered
without a judgment of the Court. And yet be sure,
ye parents, to impose the strictest laws upon the
teacher: he must never be at fault in his grammar;
he must know all history, and have all the authorities
at his finger-tips. If asked a chance question on his
way to the baths, or to the establishment of Phoebus,1
he must at once tell you who was the nurse of
Anchises, what was the name and birth-place of An-
chemolus' 2 step-mother, to what age Acestes lived,
how many flagons of Sicilian wine he presented to
the Trojans.3 Require of him that he shall mould
the young minds as a man moulds a face out of wax
with his thumb ; insist that he shall be a father to
the whole brood, so that they shall play no nasty
game, and do no nasty trick — no easy matter to watch
the hands and sparkling eyes of so many youngsters !
" See to all this," you say, "and then, Avhen the year
comes round, receive the golden piece which the
mob demands for a winning jockey."
i
Probably a private bathing establishment.
8 A warrior slain by Pallas. Virg. Aen, x. 389.
8 Aen. v. 73 foil.
157
IVVENALIS SATVRA VIII
SATVRA VIII
Stemmata quid faciunt? quid prodest, Pontice,
longo
sanguine censeri, pictos ostendere vultus
maiorum et stantis in curvibus Aemilianos
et Curios iam dimidios umerosque minorem
Corvinum et Galbam auriculis nasoque carentem ? 5
quis fructus generis tabula iactare eapaci
Corvinum,1 posthac multa contingere virga
fumosos equitum cum dictatore magistros,
si coram Lepidis male vivitur ? effigies quo
tot bellatorum, si luditur alea pernox 10
ante Numantinos, si dormire incipis ortu
Luciferi, quo signa duces et castra movebant ?
cur Allobrogicis et magna gaudeat ara
natus in Herculeo Fabius lare, si cupidus, si
vanus et Euganea quantumvis mollior agna, 15
si tenerum attritus Catinensi pumice lumbum
squalentis traducit avos, emptorque veneni
frangenda miseram funestat imagine gentem ?
tota licet veteres exornent undique cerae
atria, nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus. 20
1 Corvinum P etc.: Housm. conj. pontifices.
1 Alluding to the younger Scipio, son of L. Aemilius
Paulus, who according to rule took the name of Aemilianus
after his adoption by P. Cornelius Scipio (son of Scipio
Africanus major).
2 Scipio the younger was called Numantinua after the
capture of Numantia, B.C. 134.
I58
JUVENAL, SATIRE VIII
SATIRE VIII
Stemmata quid Faciunt ?
What avail your pedigrees ? What boots it, Ponti-
cus, to be valued for one's ancient blood, and to
display the painted visages of one's forefathers — an
Aemilianus1 standing in his car; a half-crumbled
Curius ; a Corvinus who has lost a shoulder, or a
Galba that has neither ear nor nose ? Of what profit
is it to boast a Fabius on your ample family chart,
and thereafter to trace kinship through many a branch
with grimy Dictators and Masters of the Horse, if
in presence of the Lepidi you live an evil life ? What
signify all these effigies of warriors if you gamble
all night long before your Numantine2 ancestors,
and begin your sleep with the rise of Lucifer, at
an hour when our Generals of old would be moving
their standards and their camps ? Why should a
Fabius, born in the home of Hercules,3 take pride in
the title Allobrogicus,4 and in the Great Altar,5 if he
be covetous and empty-headed and more effeminate
than a Euganean 6 lambkin; if his loins, rubbed
smooth by Catanian7 pumice, throw shame on his
shaggy-haired grandfathers ; or if, as a trafficker in
poison, he dishonour his unhappy race by a statue that
will have to be broken in pieces ? Though you deck
your hall from end to end with ancient waxen
images, Virtue is the one and only true nobility. Be
3 The Fabii pretended to be descended from Hercules.
4 Alluding to Q. Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus (B.C. 121).
5 The ara maxima of Hercules, near the Circus.
6 Fine pasture land in Venetia, where dwelt the Euganei.
7 From Catana near Mount Aetna.
iS9
IWENALIS SATVRA VIII
Paulus vel Cossus vel Drusus moribus esto,
hos ante effigies maiorum pone tuorum,
praecedant ipsas illi te consule virgas.
prima mihi debes animi bona, sanctus haben
iustitiaeque tenax factis dictisque mereris ? -?' 25
agnosco procerem : salve Gaetulice, seu tu
Silanus, quocumque alio de sanguine rarus
civis et egregius patriae contingis ovanti,
exclamare libet, populus quod clamat Osiri
invento. quis enim generosum dixerit hunc qui 30
indignus genere et praeclaro nomine tantum
insignis ? nanum cuiusdam Atlanta vocamus,
Aethiopem Cycnum, pravam extortamque puellam
Europen ; canibus pigris scabieque vetusta
levibus et siccae lambentibus ora lucernae 35
nomen erit pardus tigris leo, si quid adhuc est
quod fremat in terris violentius ; ergo cavebis
et metues ne tu sic x Creticus aut Camerinus.
His ego quern monui? tecum est mihi sermo,
Rubelli
Blande. tumes alto Drusorum stemmate, tam-
40
quam
feceris ipse aliquid propter quod nobilis esses,
ut te conciperet quae sanguine fulget Iuli,
non quae ventoso conducta sub aggere texit.
"vos humiles," inquis, "volgi pars ultima nostri,
quorum nemo queat patriam monstrare parentis ; 45
ast ego Cecropides." vivas et originis huius
gaudia longa feras. tamen ima plebe Quiritem
1 sic H. Junius : si P : sis \p.
When a new Apis was Lorn, the people shouted evprjuafxev,
{alpontv. Apis was supposed to be an incarnation of
Osiris
160
JUVENAL, SATIRE VIII
a Paulus, or a Cossus, or a Drusus in character; rank
them before the statues of your ancestors ; let them
precede the fasces themselves when you are Consul.
You owe me, first of all things, the virtues of the
soul ; prove yourself stainless in life, one who holds
fast to the right both in word and deed, and I ac-
knowledge you as a lord ; all hail to you, Gaetulicus,
or you, Silanus, or from whatever stock you come, if
you have proved yourself to a rejoicing country a rare
and illustrious citizen, we would fain cry what Egypt
shouts when Osiris has been found.1 For who can
be called "noble" who is unworthy of his race, and
distinguished in nothing but his name? We call
some one's dwarf an "Atlas," his blackamoor "a
swan " ; an ill-favoured, misshapen girl we call
"Europa"; lazy hounds that are bald with chronic
mange, and who lick the edges of a dry lamp, will
bear the names of "Pard," "Tiger," "Lion," or of
any other animal in the world that roars more
fiercely : take you care that it be not on that prin-
ciple that you are a Creticus or a Camerinus !
30 Who is it whom I admonish thus ? It is to you,
Rubellius Rlandus,2 that I speak. You are puffed up
with the lofty pedigree of the Drusi, as though you
had done something to make you noble, and to be
conceived by one glorying in the blood of lulus,
rather than by one who weaves for hire under the
windy rampart. "You others are dirt," you say;
" the very scum of our populace ; not one of you can
point to his father's birthplace; but I am one of
the Cecropidae ! " Long life to you ! May you long
enjoy the glories of your birth ! And yet among the
2 Rubellius Blandus was married to Julia, grand-daughter
of Tiberius. One of his descendants must be meant here.
161
M
IVVENALIS SATVRA VIII
facundum invenies : solet hie defendere causas
nobilis indooti ; veniet de plebe togata
qui iuris nodos et legum aenigmata solvat ; 50
hinc i petit Euphrates iuvenis domitique Batavi
custodes aquilas, armis industrius. at tu
nil nisi Cecropides, truncoque simillimus Hermae :
nullo quippe alio vincis discrimine quam quod
illi marmoreum caput est, tua vivit imago. 55
Die mihi, Teucrorum proles : animalia muta
quis generosa putet nisi fortia ? nempe volucrem
sic laudamus equum, facili cui plurima palma
fervet et exultat rauco victoria circo ;
nobilis hie, quocumque venit de gramine, cuius 60
clara fuga ante alios et primus in aequore pulvis.
sed venale pecus Coryphaei posteritas et
Hirpini, si rara iugo victoria sedit ;
nil ibi maiorum respectus, gratia nulla
umbrarum ; dominos pretiis mutare iubentur 65
exiguis, trito ducunt epiraedia collo
segnipedes dignique molam versare nepotes.
ergo ut miremur te, non tua, privum aliquid da,
quod possim titulis incidere praeter honores
quos illis damus ac dedimus, quibus omnia debes. 70
Haec satis ad iuvenem quern nobis fama superbum
tradit et inflatum plenumque Nerone propinquo ;
rarus enim ferme sensus communis in ilia
fortuna. sed te censeri laude tuorum,
i hinc conj. by Weidner and confirmed byGU; P*haveft*c.
1 Famous racers.
162
JUVENAL, SATIRE VIII
lowest rabble you will find a Roman who has elo-
quence, one who will plead the cause of the unlet-
tered noble ; you must go to the toga-clad herd for
a man to untie the knots and riddles of the law.
From them will come the brave young soldier who
marches to the Euphrates, or to the eagles that
guard the conquered Batavians, while you are nothing
but a Cecropid, the image of a limbless Hermes !
For in no respect but one have you the advantage
over him : his head is of marble, while yours is a
living effiarv !
56 Tell me, thou scion of the Trojans, who deems a
dumb animal well-born unless it be strong ? It is for
this that we commend the swift horse whose speed sets
every hand aglow, and fills the Circus witli the hoarse
shout of victory ; that horse is noblest, on whatever
pasture reared, whose rush outstrips the rest, and
whose dust is foremost upon the plain. But the off-
spring of Coryphaeus1 or Hirpinus1 comes to the
hammer if Victory light but seldom on his car : no
respect is there paid to ancestors, no favour is shown
to Shades ! The slow of foot, that are fit only to
turn a miller's wheel, pass, for a mere nothing, from
one owner to another, and gall their necks against
the collar. So, if I am to respect yourself, and not
your belongings, give me something of your own to
engrave among your titles, in addition to those
honours which we pay, and have paid, to those to
whom you owe your all.
71 Enough this for the youth whom report has
handed down to us as proud and puffed up with his
kinship to Nero : for in those high places regard for
others is rarely to be found. But for you, Ponticus,
I cannot wish that you should be, valued for the
163
m 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA VIII
Pontice, noluerim sic ut nihil ipse futurae 7o
laudis agas. miser um est aliorum incumbere tamae,
ne conlapsa ruant subductis tecta columnis.
stratus humi palmes viduas desiderat ulmos.
esto bonus miles, tutor bonus, arbiter idem
integer ; ambiguae si quando citabere testis 6U
incertaeque rei, Phalavis licet imperet ut sis
falsus et admoto dictet periuria tauro,
summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudon,
et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.
dignus morte perit, cenet licet ostrea centum »D
Gaurana et Cosmi toto mergatur aeno.
Expectata diu tandem provincia cum te
rectorem accipiet,1 pone irae frena modumque,
pone et avaritiae, miserere inopum sociorum :
ossa vides rerum 2 vacuis exucta medullis ; W
respice quid moneant leges, quid curia mandet,
praemia quanta bonos maneant, quam fulmine msto
et Capito et Numitor ruerint damnante senatu,
piratae Cilicum. sed quid danmatio confert ?
praeconem, Chaerippe, tuis circumspice panms, \)5
cum Pansa eripiat quidquid tibi Natta reliquit,
iamque tace ; furor est post omnia perdere naulum.
1 accipiet ty : accipiat PAF.
« rerum PFGU : reguvi ALOT.
i The famous tyrant of Agrigentum, who slowly roasted his
victims in a brazen bull. .
2 Gaurus was a hill overlooking the Lucrine lake.
s A well-known perfumer. ..
< Condemned for extortion in Cihcia. SeeTac^nn. xm.33.
b The word piratae is used because the Cihuans were
notorious pirates. ,
8 The native Cilicians reap no benefit from the condemna-
tion of the governors.
164
JUVENAL, SATIRE VIII
glories of your race while doing nothing that shall
bring you praise in the days to come. It is a poor
thing to lean upon the fame of others, lest the pillars
give way and the house fall down in ruin. The vine-
shoot, trailing upon the ground, longs for the widowed
elm. Be a stout soldier, a faithful guardian, and an
incorruptible judge ; if summoned to bear witness in
some dubious and uncertain cause, though Phalaris l
himself should bring up his bull and dictate to you
a perjury, count it the greatest of all sins to prefer
life to honour, and to lose, for the sake of living, all
that makes life worth having. The man who merits
death is already dead, though he dine off a hundred
Lucrine 2 oysters, and bathe in a whole cauldron of
Cosmus' 3 essences.
87 When you enter your long-expected Province as
its Governor, set a curb and a limit to your passion,
as also to your greed ; have compassion on the im-
poverished provincials, whose very bones have been
sucked dry of marrow ; have regard to what the
law ordains, what the Senate enjoins ; consider what
honours await the good ruler, with what a just
thunderstroke the Senate hurled down Capito and
Numitor,4 those plunderers5 of the Cilicians. Yet
what profit was there from their condemnation ? 6
Look out for an auctioneer, Chaerippus,7 to sell your
chattels, seeing that Pansa has stripped you of all
that Natta left. And hold your tongue about it;
when all else is gone, it is madness to throw away
your passage-money.8
7 Chaerippus is a Cilician native who is advised to sell
anything he has left. Pansa and Natta are fictitious names
to denote the plundering governors.
8 i.e. the fee to be given to Charon for the passage over
the Styx. Some take it of the passage-money to Rome.
165
IVVENALIS SATVRA VIII
Non idem gemitus olim neque vulnus erat par
damnorum sociis florentibus et modo victis.
plena domustunc omnis, et ingens stabat acervus 100
nummovum, Spartana chlamys, conchylia Coa,
et cum Parrhasii tabulis signisque Myronis
Phidiacum vivebat ebur, nee non Polycliti
multus ubique labor, rarae sine Mentore mensae.
inde Dolabella [atque hinc] Antonius, inde 105
sacrilegus Verres referebant navibus altis
occulta spolia et plures de pace triumphos.
nunc sociis iuga pauca bourn, grex parvus equarum,
et pater armenti capto eripietur agello,
ipsi deinde Lares, si quod spectabile signum, 110
si quis in aedicula deus unicus ; haec etenim sunt
pro summis, iam l sunt haec maxima, despicias tu
forsitan inbellis Rhodios unctamque Corinthon ;
despicias merito : quid resinata iuventus
cruraque totius facient tibi levia gentis? 115
horrida vitanda est Hispania, Gallicus axis
Illyricumque latus ; parce et messoribus illis
qui saturant urbem circo scaenaeque vacantem ;
quanta autem inde feres tam dirae praemia culpae,
cum tenuis nuper Marius discinxerit Afros ? 120
curandum in primis ne magna iniuria fiat
1 iam conj. by Biich.: nam Pd/ and Biich. (1893) : Housm.
conj. quis.
1 These are all names of famous Greek artists of the third
and fourth centuries.
2 Cornelius Dolabella, condemned of extortion in Cilicia,
B.c. 78.
* C. Antonius, uncle of Mark Antony, expelled from the
Senate for extortion, B.C. 70.
166
JUVENAL, SATIRE VIII
98 Very different in days of old were the wailinga
of our allies and the harm inflicted on them by
losses, when they had been newly conquered and
were wealthy still. Their houses then were all
well-stored ; they had piles of money, with Spartan
mantles and Coan purples; beside the paintings of
Parrhasius, and the statues of Myron, stood the
living ivories of Phidias ; everywhere the works of
Polyclitus were to be seen ; few tables were without
a Mentor.1 But after that came now a Dolabella,2
now an Antonius,3 and now a sacrilegious Verres,4
loading big ships with secret spoils, peace-trophies
more numerous than those of war. Nowadays, on
capturing a farm, you may rob our allies of a few
yoke of oxen, or a few mares, with the sire of the
herd ; or of the household gods themselves, if there
be a good statue left, or a single Deity in his little
shrine ; such are the best and choicest things to be
got now. You despise perchance, and deservedly,
the unwarlike Rhodian and the scented Corinthian :
what harm will their resined 5 youths do you, or the
smooth legs of the entire breed ? But keep clear of
rugged Spain, avoid the land of Gaul and the Dal-
matian shore ; spare, too, those harvesters 6 who fill
the belly of a city that has no leisure save for the
Circus and the play : what great profit can you reap
from outrages upon Libyans, seeing that Marius7
has so lately stripped Africa to the skin? Beware
above all things to do no wrong to men who are at
* C. Verres, propraetor of Sicily B.C. 73-70, attacked by
Cicero in his famous Verrine orations.
5 Resin was used as a depilatory.
0 i.e. of Africa, whence came the main part of the Roman
supplies of corn. 7 See n. to i. 49.
167
IVVENALIS SATVRA VIII
fortibus et miseris. tollas licet omne quod usquam
est
auri atque argenti : scutum gladiumque relinques.
[et iaculum et galeam spoliatis arma supersunt.]
Quod modo proposui, non est sententia : verum
est, 125
credite me vobis folium recitare Sibyllae.
si tibi sancta cohors comitum, si nemo tribunal
vendit acersecomes, si nullum in coniuge crimen
nee per conventus et cuncta per oppida curvis
unguibus ire parat nummos raptura Celaeno, 130
turn licet a Pico numeres genus, altaque si te
nomina delectant, omnem Titanida pugnam
inter maiores ipsumque Promethea ponas, .
de quocumque voles proavum tibi sumito libro.
quod si praecipitem rapit ambitio atque libido, 135
si frangis virgas sociorum in sanguine, si te
delectant hebetes lasso lictore secures,
incipit ipsorum contra te stare parentum
nobilitas claramque facem praeferre pudendis.
omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se 140
crimen habet, quanto maior qui peccat habetur.
quo mihi te solitum falsas signare tabellas
in templis quae fecit avus statuamque parentis
ante triumplialem ? quo, si nocturnus adulter
tempora Santonico velas adoperta cucullo? 145
Praeter maiorum cineres atque ossa volucri
carpento rapitur pinguis Lateranus, et ipse,
1 A mythical Latin king, son of Saturn, and father of
Faunns.
168
JUVENAL, SATIRE VIII
once brave and miserable. You may take from them
all the gold and silver that they have ; but plundered
though they be, they will still have their arms ; they
will still have their shields and their swords, their
javelins and helmets.
125 What I have just propounded is no mere
theme, it is the truth ; you may take it that I am
reading out to you one of the Sibyl's leaves. If
your whole staff be incorruptible : if no long-haired
Ganymede sells your judgments; if your wife be
blameless; if, in your circuit through the towns and
districts, there is no Harpy ready to pounce with
crooked talons upon gold, — then you may trace back
your race to Picus x ; if you delight in lofty names,
you may count the whole array of Titans, and
Prometheus himself, among your ancestors, and
select for yourself a great-grandfather from what-
ever myth you please. But if you are carried away
headlong by ambition and by lust; if you break
your rods upon the bleeding backs of our allies ; if
you love to see your axes blunted and your heads-
men weary, then the nobility of your own parents
begins to rise up in judgment against you, and to
hold a glaring torch over your misdeeds. The greater
the sinner's name, the more signal the guiltiness of
the sin. If you are wont to put your signature to
forged deeds, what matters it to me that you sign
them in temples built by your grandfather, or in
front of the triumphal statue of your father ? What
does that matter, if you steal out at night for
adultery, your brow concealed under a cowl of
Gallic wool ?
14e The bloated Lateranus whirls past the bones
and ashes of his ancestors in a rapid car ; with his
169
IVVENALIS SATVRA VIII
ipse rotam adstringit sufflamine mulio1 consul.
nocte quidem, sed Luna videt, sed sidera testes
intendunt oculos. finitum tempus honoris 150
cum fuerit, clara Lateranus luce flagellum
sumet et occursum numquam trepidabit amici
iam senis ac virga prior annuet, atque maniplos
solvet et infundet iumentis hordea lassis.
interea, dum lanatas robumque iuvencum 155
more Numae caedit, Iovis ante altaria iurat
solam Eponam et fades olida ad praesepia pictas.
sed cum pervigiles placet instaurare popinas,
obvius adsiduo Syrophoenix unctus amomo
currit, Idymaeae Syrophoenix incola portae, 160
hospitis adfectu dominum regemque salutat,
et cum venali Cyane succincta lagona.
Defensor culpae dicet mihi " fecimus et nos
haec iuvenes." esto, desisti nempe nee ultra
fovisti errorem. breve sit quod turpiter audes ; lo5
quaedam cum prima resecentur crimina barba.
indulge veniam pueris : Lateranus ad illos
thermarum calices inscriptaque lintea vadit
maturus bello Armeniae Syriaeque tuendis
amnibus et Rheno atque Histro ; praestare Nero-
nem
securum valet haec aetas. mitte Ostia, Caesar,
mitte, sed in magna legatum quaere popina ;
invenies aliquo cum percussore iacentem,
permixtum nautis et furibus ac fugitivis,
i All edd before Biicheler (1886) read mullo. The true
reading mulio was found in the Florilegium Sangallense and
is confirmed elsewhere. See Duffs and Housman s notes on
the passage.
i Lateranus is called mulio as a term of reproach.
* A low quarter of Rome ; perhaps the Jews quarter.
170
JUVENAL, SATIRE VIII
own hands this muleteer J Consul locks the wheel
with the drag. It is by night, indeed : but the moon
looks on ; the stars strain their eyes to see. When
his time of office is over, Lateranus will take up his
whip in broad daylight ; not shrinking to meet a
now-aged friend, he will be the first to salute him
with his whip ; he will unbind the trusses of hay, and
deal out the fodder to his weary cattle. Meanwhile,
though he slays woolly victims and tawny steers
after Numa's fashion, he swears by no other deity
before Jove's high altar than the Goddess of horse-
flesh, and the images painted on the reeking stables.
And when it pleases him to go back to the all-night
tavern, a Syro-Phoenician runs forth to meet him- — a
denizen of the Idumaean gate 2 perpetually drenched
in perfumes — and salutes him as lord and prince
with all the airs of a host ; and with him comes
Cyane, her dress tucked up, carrying a flagon of
wine for sale.
163 An apologist will say to me, u We too did the
same as boys." Perhaps : but then you ceased from
your follies and let them drop. Let your evil days
be short ; let some of your misdoings be cut off with
your first beard.3 Boys may be pardoned ; but when
Lateranus frequented those hot liquor shops with
their inscribed linen awnings, he was of ripe age,
fit to guard in arms the Armenian and Syrian rivers,
the Danube and the Rhine ; fit to protect the person
of his Emperor. Send your Legate to Ostia, O
Caesar, but search for him in some big cookshop !
There you will find him, lying cheek-by-jowl beside
a cut-throat, in the company of bargees, thieves, and
3 The first cutting off of the beard of a son or a labourite
was attended with some ceremony.
171
IVVENALIS SATVRA VIII
inter carnifices et fabros sandapilarum 175
et resupinati cessantia tympana galli.
aequa ibi libertas, communia pocula, lectus
non alius cuiquam, nee mensa remotior ulli.
quid facias talem sortitus, Pontice, servum?
nempe in Lucanos aut Tusca ergastula mittas. 180
at vos, Troiugenae, vobis ignoscitis, et quae
turpia cerdoni, Volesos Brutumque decebunt.
Quid si numquam adeo foedis adeoque pudendis
utimur exemplis, ut non peiora supersint ?
consumptis opibus vocem, Damasippe, locasti 185
sipario, clamosum ageres ut Phasma Catulli.
Laureolum velox etiam bene Lentulus egit,
iudice me dignus vera cruce. nee tamen ipsi
ignoscas populo ; populi frons durior huius
qui sedet et spectat triscurria patriciorum 190
planipedes audit Fabios, ridere potest qui
Mamercorum alapas. quanti sua funera vendant
quid refert ? vendunt nullo cogente Nerone,
nee dubitant celsi praetoris vendere ludis.
finge tamen gladios inde atque hinc pulpita
poni,1 195
quid satius ? mortem sic quisquam exhorruit, ut sit
zelotypus Thymeles, stupidi collega Corinthi?
1 poni P ; pone ^.
1 Private prisons in which gangs of slaves were kept in
2 Siparinm was a curtain separating the front part of the
stage, on which mimes were acted, from the back.
3 A writer of mimi.
4 A highwayman who was crucified.
6 Actors in mimes wore no shoes.
172
JUVENAL, SATIRE VIII
runaway slaves, beside hangmen and coffin-makers,
or of some eunuch priest lying drunk with idle
timbrels. Here is Liberty Hall ! One cup serves
for everybody ; no one has a bed to himself, nor
a table apart from the rest. What would you do,
friend Ponticus, if you chanced upon a slave like
this ? You would send him to your Lucanian or
Tuscan bridewell.1 But you gentlemen of Trojan
blood find excuses for yourselves ; what would dis-
grace a huckster sits gracefully on a Volesus or a
Brutus !
183 What if I can never cite any example so foul and
shameful that there is not something worse behind ?
Your means exhausted, Damasippus, you hired out
your voice to the stage,2 taking the part of the
Clamorous Ghost of Catullus.3 The nimble Lentulus
acted famously the part of Laureolus 4 : deserving,
in my judgment, to be really and truly crucified.
Nor can the spectators themselves be forgiven : the
populace that with brazen front sits and beholds the
triple buffooneries of our patricians, that can listen to
a bare-footed 5 Fabius, and laugh to see the Mamerci
cuffing each other. What matters it at what price
they sell their deaths ? 6 No Nero compels them to
sell ; yet they hesitate not to sell themselves at the
games of the exalted Praetor. And yet suppose that
on one side of you were placed a sword, on the other
the stage : which were the better choice ? Was ever
any man so afraid of death that he would choose to
be the jealous husband of a Thymele, or the colleague
of the clown Corinthus ? Yet when an Emperor7
s 'To sell their deaths" is equivalent to "to sell their
lives." The word funera may also suggest that these de
generate nobles are destroying the old glories of their families.
7 Nero.
173
IVVENALIS SATVRA VIII
res haut mira tamen citharoedo principe mimus
nobilis. haec ultra quid erit nisi ludus ? et illic
dedecus urbis habes, nee murmillonis in armis 200
nee clipeo Gracchum pugnantem aut falce supina ;
damnat enim tales habitus, sed damnat et odit ;
nee galea faciem abscondit : movet ecce tridentem.
postquam vibrata pendentia retia dextra
nequiquam effudit, nudum ad spectacula vc-ltum 205
erigit et tota fugit agnoscendus harena.
credamus tunicae, de faucibus aufea cum se
porrigat et longo iactetur spira galero.
ergo ignominiam graviorem pertulit omni
vulnere cum Graccho iussus pugnare secutor. 210
Libera si dentur populo suffragia, quis tam
perditus ut dubitet Senecam praeferre Neroni?
cuius supplicio non debuit una parari
simia nee serpens unus nee culleus unus.
par Agamemnonidae crimen, sed causa facit rem 215
dissimilem : quippe ille deis auctoribus ultor
patris erat caesi media inter pocula. sed nee
Electrae iugulo se polluit aut Spartani
sanguine coniugii, nullis aconita propinquis
miscuit, in scaena numquam cantavit Orestes, 220
1 The phrase falce supina = " a sickle on its back"; the
point of the weapon was bent backwards instead of forwards.
2 It was a disgrace for Gracchus to fight as a retiarius.
Having no armour, he had to run away if he missed his throw
with the net. His adversary was fully armed.
3 Galerus or gahrum was probably a kind of helmet or
cap. The Schol. here says Galerus est humero impoxitus
gladiatoris. See Duff and Mayor.
4 Seneca had to open his veins by Nero's order.
5 The ancient punishment for parricide was that the
criminal should be tied up in a sack along with a dog, an
ape, a snake, and a cock, and then cast into the sea.
174
JUVENAL, SATIRE VIII
has taken to harp-playing, it is not so very strange
that a noble should act in a mime. Beyond this,
what will be left but the gladiatorial school ? And
that scandal too you have seen in our city : a Grac-
chus fighting, not indeed as a murmillo, nor with the
round shield and scimitar x : such accoutrements he
rejects, ay rejects and detests ; nor does a helmet
shroud his face. See how lie wields his trident ! and
when with poised right hand he has cast the trailing
net in vain, he lifts up his bare face to the benches
and flies, for all to recognise, from one end of the
arena to the other.2 We cannot mistake the golden
tunic that flutters from his throat, and the twisted
cord that dangles from the high-crowned cap 3 ; and
so the pursuer who was pitted against Gracchus en-
dured a shame more grievous than any wound.
an If free suffrage were granted to the people,
who would be so abandoned as not to prefer Seneca4
to Nero — Nero, for whose chastisement no single ape
or adder, no solitary sack,5 should have been pro-
vided ? His crime was like that of Agamemnon's
son 6 ; but the case was not the same, seeing that
Orestes, at the bidding of the Gods, was avenging
a father slain in his cups.7 Orestes never stained
himself with Electra's blood, or with that of his
Spartan wife 8 ; he never mixed poison-drafts for his
own kin ; he never sang upon the stage,9 he never
6 Orestes slew his mother Clytemnestra in revenge for the
murder of his father. But he did not slay a sister or a wife
as Nero slew his wife Octavia and his half-sister Antonia.
7 So Homer, Od. xi. 409. The tragedian's story is that
Agamemnon was slain in his bath. 8 Hermione.
9 In the year a.d. 59 Nero presented himself upon the
stage (Tac. Ann. xiv. 15). In a.d. 67-8 he made a tour of
the Greek games and won prizes at many musical contests.
175
IVVENALIS SATVRA VIII
Troica non scripsit. quid enim Verginius armis
debuit ulcisci magis aut cum Vindice Galba,
quod 1 Nero tam saeva crudaque tyrannide fecit ?
haec opera atque hae sunt generosi principis artes,
gaudentis foedo peregrina ad pulpita cantu 225
prostitui Graiaeque apium meruisse coronae.
maiorum effigies habeant insignia vocis,
ante pedes Domiti longum tu pone Thyestae
syrma vel Antigones vel personam Melanippes,
et de marmoreo citharam suspende colosso. 230
Quid, Catilina, tuis natalibus atque Cethegi
inveniet quisquam sublimius ? arma tamen vos
nocturna et flammas domibus templisque paratis,
ut bracatorum pueri Senonumque minores,
ausi quod liceat tunica punire molesta. 235
sed vigilat consul vexillaque vestra coercet ;
hie novus Arpinas, ignobilis et modo Romae
municipalis eques, galeatum ponit ubique
praesidium attonitis et in omni monte laborat.
tantum igitur muros intra toga contulit illi 240
1 quod Madvig : quid P^.
1 Verginius Rufus, Legate of Upper Germany, defeated
the revolting Vindex, and refused to be named emperor after
Galha's death in a.d. 69.
2 C. Julius Vindex, propraetor of the province Lugdu-
nensis, revolted against Nero in A.D. 68, and was defeated
by Verginius. .
3 Not the father of Nero, but one of his distinguished
ancestors on his father's side. Nero's name before his
adoption by Claudius was L. Domitius Ahenobarbua.
4 Tragic parts acted by Nero.
176
JUVENAL, SATIRE VIII
wrote an Epic upon Troy ! For of all the deeds of
Nero's cruel and bloody tyranny, which was there
that more deserved to be avenged by the arms of a
Verginius,1 of a Vindex 2 or a Galba ? These were
the deeds, these the graces of our high-born Prince,
whose delight it was to prostitute himself by un-
seemly singing upon a foreign stage, and to earn a
chaplet of Greek parsley ! Let thy ancestral images
be decked with the trophies of thy voice ! Place
thou at the feet of a Domitius3 the trailing robe of
Thyestes4 or Antigone,4 or the mask of Melanippa,4
and hang up thy harp on a colossus 5 of marble !
231 Where can be found, O Catiline, nobler ances-
tors than thine, or than thine, Cethegus ? 6 Yet you
plot a night attack, you prepare to give our houses
and temples to the flames as though you were the
sons of trousered 7 Gauls, or sprung from the Senones,8
daring deeds that deserved the shirt of torture.9 But
our Consul 10 is awake, and beats back your hosts.
Born at Arpinum, of ignoble blood, a municipal
knight new to Rome, he posts helmeted men at
every point to guard the affrighted citizens, and is
alert on every hill. Thus within the walls his toga
won for him as much name and honour as Octavius
6 This is doubtless meant as a hit at the famous bronze
Colossus of Nero.
6 C. Cornelius Cethegus was the most prominent associate
of Catiline in the long-nursed conspiracy which was crushed
by Cicero as consul in B.C. 63.
7 Narbonese Gaul was called bracata because its inhabi-
tants wore trousers.
8 The Gauls who defeated the Romans in the battle of the
Allia, B.C. 390.
9 A shirt lined with pitch in which the victims were burnt
to death. See above i. 115 and Tac. Ann. xv. 44.
10 Cicero.
Ill
N
IVVENALIS SATVRA VIII
nominis ac tituli, quantum [in *] Leucade, quantum
Thessaliae campis Octavius abstulit udo
caedibus adsiduis gladio ; sed Roma parentem,
Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit.
Arpinas alius Volscorum in monte solebat 245
poscere mercedes alieno lassus aratro,
nodosam post haec frangebat vertice vitem,
si lentus pigra muniret castra dolabra ;
hie tamen et Cimbros et summa pericula rerum
excipit et solus trepidantem protegit urbem. 250
atque ideo, postquam ad Cimbros stragemque
volabant
qui numquam attigerant maiora cadavera corvi,
nobilis ornatur lauro collega secunda.
Plebeiae Deciorum animae, plebeia fuerunt
nomina ; pro totis legionibus hi tamen et pro 255
omnibus auxiliis atque omni pube Latina
sufficiunt dis infernis Terraeque parenti ;
[pluris enim Decii quam quae servantur ab illis.]
Ancilla natus trabeam et diadema Quirini
et fasces meruit, regum ultimus ille bonorum. 260
prodita laxabant portarum claustra tyrannis
exulibus iuvenes ipsius consulis et quos
1 If we read in with PSGU the line is deficient metrically.
\fz has non : Owen conj. vi.
1 The island of Leucas here stands for the battle of Ac-
tium, though it was many miles distant from the place
where the battle was fought.
a The battle of Philippi (B.C. 42) is meant, though Philippi
was in Macedonia, not in Thessaly. The battle fought in
Thessaly was the battle of Pharsalia, B.C. 49. The Roman
poets confound the two battles.
178
JUVENAL, SATIRE VIII
gained by battle in Leucas l ; as much as Octavius
won by his blood-dripping sword on the plains of
Thessaly2; but then Rome was yet free when she
styled him the Parent and Father of his country !
Another son of Arpinum 3 used to work for hire upon
the Volscian hills, toiling behind a plough not his
own ; after that, a centurion's knotty staff would be
broken over his head4 if his pick were slow and
sluggish in the trench. Yet it is he who faces the
Cimbri,5 and the mightiest perils ; alone he saves the
trembling city. And so when the ravens, who had
never before seen such huge carcasses, flew down
upon the slaughtered Cimbri, his high-born colleague
is decorated with the second bay.
254 Plebeian were the souls of the Decii,6 plebeian
were their names ; yet they were accepted by the
Gods beneath and by Mother Earth in lieu of all the
Legions and the allies, and all the youth of Latium,
for the Decii were more precious than the hosts
whom they saved.
259 It was one born of a slave who won the robe
and diadem and fasces of Quirinus — the last he of
our good Kings7 — whereas the Consul's own sons,
who should have dared some great thing for en-
dangered liberty — some deed to be marvelled at by
3 C. Marins.
4 i. e. he served as a private soldier.
5 The Cimbri and Teutones were utterly defeated by
Marias and his colleague Q. Lutatius Catulus on the Raudian
plain in B.C. 101. Catulus shared in the triumph, but all
the honour was given to Marins.
6 P. Decius Mus, in the Latin War, B.C. 340, gained the
victory for the Romans by devoting himself and the enemy
to destruction ; his son did the same in the battle of Sen-
tinum, B.C. 295.
7 Servius Tullius.
179
N 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA IX
magnum aliquid dubia pro libertate deceret,
quod miraretur cum Coclite Mucius et quae
imperii fines Tiberinum virgo natavit : 265
occulta ad patres produxit crimina servus
matronis lugendus, at illos verbera iustis
adficiunt poenis et legum prima securis.
Malo pater tibi sit ThersiteSj dummodo tu sis
Aeacidae similis Vulcaniaque arma capessas, 270
quam te Thersitae similem producat Achilles,
et tamem ut longe repetas longeque revolvas
nomen, ab infami gentem deducis asylo :
maiorum primus, quisquis fuit ille, tuorum
aut pastor fuit aut illud quod dicere nolo. 275
SATVRA IX
Scire velim, quare totiens mihi, Naevole, tristis
occurras, fronte obducta ceu Marsya victus.
quid tibi cum vultu, qualem deprensus habebat
Ravola, dum Rhodopes uda terit inguina barba ?
nos colaphum incutimus lambenti crustula servo,
non erit hac facie miserabilior Crepereius
i
Horatius Codes, who " kept the bridge so well"; Mucius
Scaevola, to show his courage, put his hand into the flames in
Porsena's camp.
I So
JUVENAL, SATIRE IX
Mucius or Codes,1 or by the maiden 2 who swam
across the river-boundary of our realm — were for
traitorously loosing the bolts of the city gates to the
exiled tyrants. It was a slave — well worthy he to
be bewailed by matrons — who revealed the secret
plot to the Fathers, while the sons met their just
punishment from scourging and from the axe then
first used in the cause of Law.
260 j would rather that Thersites were your father
if only you were like the grandson of Aeacus,3 and
could wield the arms of Vulcan, than that you should
have been begotten by Achilles and be like Thersites.
Yet, after all, however far you may trace back your
name, however long the roll, you derive your race
from an ill-famed asylum : the first of your ancestors,
whoever he was, was either a shepherd or something
that I would rather not name.
SATIRE IX
The Sorrows of a Reprobate
I should like to know, Naevolus, why you so often
look gloomy when I meet you, knitting your brow
like a vanquished Marsyas.4 What have you to do
with the look that Ravola wore when caught playing
that dirty trick with Rhodope ? If a slave takes a
lick at the pastiy, he gets a thrashing for his pains!
Why do you look as woe-begone as Crepereius Pollio
2 Cloelia, the hostage who escaped by swimming across the
Tiber.
3 Achilles is called Aeacides as he was the grandson of
Aeacus.
4 Flayed by Apollo when beaten in a musical contest.
181
IVVENALIS SATVRA IX
Pollio, qui triplicem usuram praestare paratus
eircumit et fatuos non invenit. unde repente
tot rugae ? certe modico contentus agebas
vernam equitem, conviva ioco mordente facetus 10
et salibus vehemens intra pomeria natis.
omnia nunc contra : vultus gravis, horrida siccae
silva comae, nullus tota nitor in cute, qualem
Bruttia praestabat calidi tibi fascia visci,1
sed fruticante pilo neglecta et squalida crura. 15
quid macies aegri veteris, quern tempore Ion go
torret quarta dies olimque domes tica febris ?
deprendas animi tormenta latentis in aegro
corpore, deprendas et gaudia ; sumit utrumque
inde habitum facies. igitur flexisse videris 20
propositum et vitae contrarius ire priori.
nuper enim, ut repeto, fanum Isidis et Ganymedem
Pacis et advectae secreta Palatia matris
et Cererem (nam quo non prostat femina templo ?)
notior Aufidio moechus celebrare 2 solebas, 25
quodque taces, ipsos etiam inclinare maritos.
" Utile et boc multis vitae genus, at mihi nullum
inde operae pretium. pingues aliquando lacernas,
munimenta togae, duri crassique colons
et male percussas textoris pectine Galli 30
accipimus, tenue argentum venaeque secundae.
fata regunt homines, fatum est et partibus illis
ouas sinus abscondit. nam si tibi sidera cessant,
nil faciet longi mensura incognita nervi,
quamvis te nudum spumanti Virro labello 35
viderit et blandae adsidue densaeque tabellae
1 GU give this line in two places, here and after line 11.
The reading is uncertain. Owen reads lita for tibi, taken
from circumlita in i^.
2 scelerare P Biich. : celebrare ^ ( " f or tasse melius Housm. ).
182
JUVENAL, SATIRE IX
when he goes round offering a triple rate of interest,
and can find no fool to trust him ? Why have you
suddenly developed those wrinkles? You used to be
an easily contented person, who passed as a home-bred
knight that could make biting jests at the dinner-
table and tell witty town-bred stories. But now
you are a different man. You have a hang-dog look ;
your head is a forest of unkempt, unanointed hair ;
your skin has lost all the gloss that it got from
swathes of hot Bruttian pitch, and your legs are
dirty and rough with sprouting hair. Why are you
as thin as a chronic invalid in whom a quartan fever
has long made its home ? One can detect in a
sickly body the secret torments of the soul, as also
its joys : the face takes on the stamp of either.
You seem, therefore, to have changed your mode of
life, and to be going in a way opposite to your past.
Not long ago, as I remember, you were a gallant
more notorious than Aufidius ; you used to frequent
the Temple of Isis and that of Peace with its
Ganymede, and the secret courts of the Foreign
Mother — for in what temple are there not frail fair
ones to be found ?
27 " Many men have found profit in my mode
of life; but I have made nothing substantial out
of my labours. I sometimes have a greasy cloak given
me that will save my toga— a coarse and crudely
dyed garment that has been ill-combed by the
Gallic weaver — or some trifle in silver of an in-
ferior quality. Man is ruled by destiny ; even those
parts of him that lie beneath his clothes. . . . What
183
IVVENALIS SATVRA IX
sollicitent, auros yap e<£e'A./ceTai avSpa KiVaiSos.
quod tamen ulterius monstrum quam mollis avarus ?
chaec tribui, deinde ilia dedi, mox plura tulisti ' ;
computat, et cevet. ponatur calculus, adsint 40
cum tabula pueri ; numera1 sestertia quinque
omnibus in rebus : numerentur deinde labores.
an facile et pronum est agere intra viscera penem
legitimum atque illic hesternae occurrere cenae ?
servus erit minus ille miser qui foderit agrum, 45
quam dominum ; sed tu sane tenerum et puerum te
et pulchrum et dignum cyatho caeloque putabas.
vos liumili adseculae, vos indulgebitis umquam
cultori, iam nee morbo donare parati ?
en cui tu viridem umbellain, cui sucina mittas 50
grandia, natalis quotiens redit aut madidum ver
incipit et strata positus longaque cathedra
munera femineis tractat secreta kalendis.
" Die, passer, cui tot montis, tot praedia servas
Apula, tot milvos intra tua pascua lassos ? 55
te Trifolinus ager fecundis vitibus implet
suspectumque iugum Cumis et Gaurus inanis —
nam quis plura linit victuro dolia musto ? —
quantum erat exhausti lumbos donare clientis
iugeribus piucis ? meliusne hie 2 rusticus infans GO
cum matre et casulis et conlusore catello
cymbala pulsantis legatum fiet amici ?
'improbus es cum poscis/ ait. sed pensio clamat
' posce ' ; sed appellat puer unicus ut Polyphemi
lata acies per quam sollers evasit Vlixes ; 65
1 numera \p : numeras P.
2 For nt hie (P\p) Housm. conj. nunc.
1 The 1st of March ; see Hop. Qd, ni. viii. 1.
184
JUVENAL, SATIRE IX
greater monster is there in the world than a miserly
debauchee? 'I gave you this/ says he, 'and then
that ; and later again ever so much more.' Thus he
makes a reckoning with his lusts. Well, set out the
counters, call in the lads with the reckoning board,
count out five thousand sesterces all told, and then
enumerate my services. ... I am less accounted of
than the poor hind who ploughs his master's field.
You used to deem yourself a delicate and good-
looking youth, fit to be Jove's own cup-bearer ; but
will men like you, who are unwilling to pay for your
own morbid pleasures, ever show a kindness to a
poor follower or a slave ? A pretty fellow to have
presents sent him of green sunshades or big amber
balls on a birthday, or on the first day of showery
spring, when he lolls at full length in a huge easy
chair counting over the secret gifts he has received
upon the Matron's Day ! 1
54 "Tell me, you sparrow, for whose benefit are you
keeping all those hills and farms in Apulia, all those
pasture-lands that tire out the kites ? Your stores
are filled with rich grapes from your Trifoline vine-
yard, or from the slopes that look down upon Cumae,
or the unpeopled Gam-us ; whose vats seal up
more vintages destined for long life than yours ?
Would it be a great matter to present a few acres to
the loins of an exhausted client ? Is it better, think
you, that this country woman, with her cottage and
her babe and her pet dog, should be bequeathed to a
friend who plays the timbrels ? ' You're an impudent
beggar,' you say. Yes, but my rent cries on me to
beg ; and so does my single slave-lad — as single as
that big eye of Polyphemus which helped the wily
Ulysses to make his escape. And one slave is not
185
IVVENALIS SATVRA IX
alter emendus erit, namque hie non sufficit, ambo
pascendi. quid agam bruma spirante ? quid, oro,
quid dicam scapulis puerorum aquilone Decembri
et pedibus ? ' durate atque expectate cicadas ' ?
« Verum ut dissimules, ut mittas cetera, quanto 70
metiris pretio, quod ni tibi deditus essem
devotusque cliens, uxor tua virgo maneret ?
scis certe quibus ista modis, quam saepe rogaris,
et quae pollicitus. fugientem saepe puellam
amplexu rapui ; tabulas quoque ruperat et iam 75
signabat : tota vix hoc ego nocte redemi
te plorante foris ; testis mihi lectulus et tu,
ad quem pervenit lecti sonus et dominae vox.
instabile ac dirimi coeptum et iam paene solutum
coniuo-ium in multis domibus servavit adulter. 80
quo te circumagas ? quae prima aut ultima ponas ?
nullum ergo meritum est, ingrate ac perfide, nullum,
quod tibi filiolus vel filia nascitur ex me ?
tollis enim et libris actorum spargere gaudes
aro-umenta viri. foribus suspende coronas : 85
iam pater es, dedimus quod famae opponere possis.
iura parentis habes, propter me scriberis heres,
legatum omne capis nee non et dulce caducum.
commoda praeterea iungentur multa caducis,
si numerum, si tres implevero."
Iusta doloris, 90
Naevole, causa tui ; contra tamen ille quid adfert ?
"neo-legit atque alium bipedem sibi quaerit asellum.
haec soli commissa tibi celare memento
et tacitus nostras intra te fige querellas.
186
JUVENAL, SATIRE IX
enough ; I shall have to buy a second and feed them
both. What shall I do, pray, when the winter
howls ? What shall I say to their shivering feet and
shoulders when December's north wind blows ?
Shall I say ' Hold on, and wait till the grasshoppers
arrive ' ?
70 " And though you ignore and pass by my other
services, Avhat price do you put on this, that were I
not your true and devoted client, your wife would still
be a maid ? You know how often, and in what ways,
you have asked that service of me, and what promises
you made to me. . . . There's many a household in
which a union that was unstable, ready to break up,
and all but dissolved, has been saved by the inter-
vention of a lover. Which way can you turn ? Which
service do you put first, which last? Is it to be no
merit, you thankless and perfidious man, none at all,
that I have presented you with a little son or daugh-
ter ? For you rear the children, and love to spread
abroad in the gazette the proofs of your virility. Hang
up garlands over your door ! You are now a father ;
I have given you something to set up against ill fame.
You have now parental rights ; through me )-ou can
be entered as an heir, and receive a legacy entire,
with a nice little extra into the bargain ; to all which
perquisites many more will be added if I make up
your family to the full number of three."
90 Indeed, Naevolus, you have just cause of com-
plaint. But what has he got to say on the other
side ? " He takes no notice, and looks out for another
two-legged donkey like myself. But remember, my
secrets are for your ears alone ; keep my complaints
fast locked up in your own bosom. It is a fatal
thing to have for your enemy a man who keeps
187
IVVENALIS SATVRA IX
nam res mortifera est inimicus pumice levis ; 95
qui modo secretum commiserate ardet et odit,
tamquam prodiderim quidquid scio. sumere ferrum,
fuste aperire caput, candelam adponere valvis
non dubitat. nee contemnas aut despicias quod
his opibus numquam cara est annona veneni. 100
ergo occulta teges ut curia Martis Athenis."
0 Corydon, Corydon, secretum divitis ullum
esse putas ? servi ut taceant, iumenta loquentur
et canis et postes et marmora. claude fenestras,
vela tegant rimas, iunge ostia, tollite lumen, 105
e medio fac eant omnes, prope nemo recumbat :
quod tamen ad can turn galli facit ille secundi,
proximus ante diem caupo sciet, audiet et quae
finxerunt pariter libarius archimagiri
carptores. quod enim dubitant componere crimen 110
in dominos, quotiens rumoribus ulciscuntur
baltea ? nee derit qui te per compita quaerat
nolentem et miseram vinosus inebriet aurem.
illos ergo i-oges quidquid paulo ante petebas
a nobis, taceant illi. sed prodere malunt 115
arcanum, quam subrepti potare Falerni
pro populo faciens quantum Saufeia bibebat.
vivendum recte cum propter plurima turn est his1
[idcirco ut possis linguam contemnere servi.]
praecipue causis, ut linguas mancipiorum 1 20
contemnas. nam lingua mali pars pessima servi ;
1 turn est his. So Housm. instead of the tunc est of PA.
188
JUVENAL, SATIRE IX
himself smooth by pumice-stone ! The man who has
lately entrusted me with a secret has a consuming
hatred of me, believing I have revealed everything
that I know; he will not hesitate to take up a sword,
or to lay open my head with a club, or to put a
lighted candle against my door. Nor can you dis-
regard or make nothing of the fact that for a man of
his means the price of poison is never high. So
keep my secrets close — as close as did the Council
of Areopagus ! "
102 O my poor Corydon ! Do you suppose that
a rich man has any secrets ? Though his slaves hold
their tongues, his beasts of burden and his dog will
talk ; his door posts and his marble columns will tell
tales. Let him shut the windows, and close every
chink with curtains ; let him fasten the doors, remove
the light, turn everyone out of the house, and permit
no one to sleep in it — yet the tavern-keeper close
by will know before dawn what he was doing at the
second cock-crow ; he will hear also all the tales
invented by the pastry-man, by the head cook and
the carver. For what calumny will they hesitate to
concoct against their masters when a slander will
avenge them for their strappings ? Nor will some
tippling friend be wanting to look for you at the
crossways, and, do what you will, pour his drunken
story into your ear. So just ask those people to hold
their tongues about the things you questioned me
about just now ! Why, they would rather blab out
a secret than drink as much stolen wine as Saufeia
used to swill when conducting a public sacrifice.
There are many reasons for right living; but the
chiefest of them all is this, that you need pay no
attention to the talk of your slaves. For the tongue
189
IVVENALIS SATVRA IX
deterior tamen hie qui liber non erit illis,
quorum animas et farre suo custodit et aere.
" Utile consilium modo, sed commune, dedisti.
nunc mihi quid suades post damnum temporis et
spes 125
deceptas ? festinat enim decurrere velox
nosculus angustae miseraeque brevissima vitae
portio ; dum bibimus, dum serta unguenta puellas
poscimuSj obrepit non intellecta senectus."
Ne trepida, numquam pathicus tibi derit amicus 130
stantibus et salvis his collibus : undique ad illos
convenient et carpentis et navibus omnes
qui digito scalpunt uno caput, altera maior
spes superest ; tu tantum erucis inprime dentem.1
[gratus eris ; tu tantum erucis inprime dentem.] 134a
" Haec exempla para felicibus. at mea Clotho 135
et Lachesis gaudent, si pascitur inguine venter.
o parvi nostrique Lares, quos ture minuto
aut farre et tenui soleo exorare corona,
quando ego figam aliquid, quo sit mihi tuta senectus
a tegete et baculo ? viginti milia faenus 140
pigneribus positis, argenti vascula puri,
sed quae Fabricius censor notet, et duo fortes
de grege Moesorum. qui me cervice locata
securum iubeant clamoso insistere circo ;
sit mihi praeterea curvus caelator, et alter 145
qui multas facies pingit cito ; sufficiunt haec,
quando ego pauper ero ; votum miserabile, nee spes
1 After line 134 P has the line bracketed above, being
mainly a repetition of that line. Housman conjectures an
omission of five words, and reads the lines thus :
altera maior
spes superest ; turbae, properat quae crescere, molli
gratus eris, tu tantum erucis imprime dentem.
190
JUVENAL, SATIRE IX
is the worst part of a bad slave ; and yet worse still is
the plight of a man who cannot escape from the talk
of those whom he supports with his own bread and
money.
124 « your advice is excellent, but it is vague. What
do you advise me to do now, after all my lost time
and disappointed hopes? for the short span of our
poor unhappy life is hurrying swiftly on, like a flower,
to its close : while we drink, and call for chaplets, for
unguents, and for maidens, old age is creeping on us
unperceived."
130 Be not afraid ; so long as these seven hills of
ours stand fast, pathic friends will never fail you :
from every quarter, in carnages and in ships, those
gentry who scratch their heads with one finger will
flock in. And you have always a further and
better ground of hope — if you fit your diet to your
trade.
135 " Such maxims are for the fortunate ; my Clotho
and Lachesis are well pleased if I can fill my belly
with my labours. O my own little Lares, whom I am
wont to supplicate with a pinch of frankincense or
corn, or with a tiny garland, when can I assure myself
of what will keep my old days from the beggar's staff
and mat ? Twenty thousand sesterces, well secured ;
some vessels of plain silver — yet such as Censor
Fabricius would have condemned — and a couple of
stout Moesian porters on whose hired necks I may be
taken comfortably to my place in the bawling circus.
Let me have besides a stooping engraver, and a
painter who will quickly dash off any number of like-
nesses. Enough this for a poor man like me. It is a
pitiful prayer, and I have little hope even of that ;
191
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
his saltern ; nam cum pro me Fortuna vocatur,
adfixit ceras ilia de nave petitas,
quae Siculos cantus effugit remige surdo." 150
SATVRA X
Omnibus in terris, quae sunt a Gadibus usque
Auroram et Gangen, pauci dinoscere possunt
vera bona atque illis multum diversa, remofa
erroris nebula, quid enim ratione timemus
aut cupimus ? quid tam dextro pede concipis, ut te 5
cona'fns non paeniteat votique peracti ?
evertere domos totas optantibus ipsis
di faciles. nocitura toga, nocitura petuntur
militia ; torrens dicendi copia multis
et sua mortifera est facundia, viribus ille 10
confisus periit admirandisque lacertis,
sed plures nimia congesta pecunia cura
strangulat et cuncta exuperans patrimonia census
quanto delphinis ballaena Britannica maior.
temporibus diris igitur iussuque Neronis 15
Longinum et magnos Senecae praedivitis hortos
clausit et egregias Lateranorum obsidet aedes
tota cohors : rarus venit in cenacula miles.
1 Ulysses stuffed the ears of his followers with wax tc
prevent them hearing the voices of the Sirens {Od. xii.
39 foil.).
192
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
A'* whenever Fortune is supplicated on my behalf,
a 3 plugs her ears with wax fetched from that self-
same ship which escaped from the Sicilian song-
stresses through the deafness of her crew."1
SATIRE X
The Vanity of Human Wishes
In all the lands that stretch from Gades to the
Ganges and the Morn,_there are but few who can
distinguish true blessings from their opposites, put-
ting aside the mists pt error. For when does Reason
direct our desires or our tears ? What project do we
form so auspiciously that we do not repent us of our
effort and of the granted wish ? Whole households
have been destroyed by the compliant Gods in
answer to the masters' prayers ; jn mrt^p anrl^aity
ajike we ask for things that will be our ruin. Many a
man has met death from the rushing flood of his own
eloquence ; others from the strength and wondrous
thews in which they have trusted. More still have
been ruined by money too carefully amazed, and by
fortunes that surpass all patrimonies by as much as the
British whale exceeds the dolphin. It was for this
that in the dire days Nero ordered Longinus2 and
the great gardens of the over-wealthy Seneca 3 to be
put under siege ; for this was it that the noble Palace
of the Laterani 4 was beset by an entire cohort ; it is
but seldom that soldiers find their way into a garret !
- A famous lawyer banished by Nero.
3 Forced by Nero to commit suicide.
4 Plautius Lateranus was put to death by Nero for joining
in Piso'a conspiracy, a.d. 63.
193
30
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
pauca licet portes argenti vascula puri
nocte iter ingressus, gladium contumque timebis
et motae ad lunam trepidabis harundinis umbram :
cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator.
Prima fere vota et cunctis notissima templis
divitiae, crescant ut opes, ut maxima toto
nostra sit area foro. sed nulla aconita bibuntur 25
fictilibus : tunc ilia time, cum pocula sumes
gemmata et lato Setinum ardebit in auro.
iamne igitur laudas quod de sapientibus alter
ridebat, quotiens de limine moverat unum
protuleratque pedem, flebat contrarius auctor ?
sed facilis cuivis rigidi censura cachinm :
mirandum est unde ille oculis suflFecerit umor.
perpetuo risu pulmonem agitare solebat
Democritus, quamquam non essent urbibus illis
praetextae trabeae fasces lectica tribunal ;
quid si vidisset praetorem curribus altis
extantem et medii sublimem pulvere circi
in tunica Iovis et pictae Sarrana ferentem
ex umeris aulaea togae magnaeque coronae
tantum orbem, quanto cervix non sufficit ulla?
quippe tenet sudans hanc publicus et, sibi consul
ne placeat, curru servus portatur eodem.
da nunc et volucrem, sceptro quae surgit eburno,
illinc comicines, hinc praecedentia longi
agminis officia et niveos ad frena Quirites,
i Democritus of Abdera. 2 Heraclitus of Ephesus.
s The tunica palmata, embroidered with palm, and the
194
35
40
45
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
Though you carry but few silver vessels with you in
a night journey, you wilj_be afraid of the sworcLaxid
cudgelof a freebooter" you will tremble at the shadow
of a reed shaking in the moonlight; but the empty-
handed traveller will whistle in the robber's face.
" 2a The foremost of all petitions — the one best
known to every temple — is for riches and their in-
crease, that our money-chest may be the biggest in
the r/orurn. But you will drink no aconite out of an
earthenware cup ; you may dread it when a jewelled
cup is offered you, or when Setine wine sparkles in a
golden bowl. Then will you not commend the two
wise men, one of whom 1 would laugh while the oppo-
site sage 2 would weep every time he set a foot out-
side the door ? JT.o_eondemn bv a cutting laugh comes
readily to us all ; the wonder is how the other sage's
eyes were supplied with all that water. The sides ot
Democritus shook with unceasing laughter, although
in the cities of his day there were no purple-bordered
or purple-striped robes, no fasces, no palanquins, no
tribunals. What if he had seen the Praetor uplifted
in his lofty car amid the dust of the Circus, attired in
the tunic3 of Jove, hitching an embroidered Tyrian
toga3 on to his shoulders, and carrying a crown so
big that no neck could bear the weight of it ? For
a public slave is sweating under the burden ; and
that the Consul may not fancy himself overmuch,
the slave rides in the same chariot with his
master. Add to all this the bird that is perched
on his ivory staff; on this side the horn-blowers, on
that the duteous clients preceding him in long array,
with white-robed Roman citizens, whose friendship
toga picla, with gold, were triumphal garments, described by
Livy as Iovis optimi maximi ornatus (xx. 7).
195
o 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
defossa in loculos quos sportula fecit amicos.
tunc quoque materiam risus invenit ad omnis
occursus hominum, cuius prudentia monstrat
summos posse viros et magna exempla daturos
vervecum in patvia crassoque sub aere nasci. 50
ridebat cuvas nee non et gaudia vulgi,
interdum et lacrimas, cum Fortunae ipse minaci
mandaret laqueum mediumque ostenderet unguem.
Ei-p-o supervacua aut quae x perniciosa petuntur
propter quae fas est genua incerare deorum ! 55
quosdam praecipitat subiecta potentia magnae
invidiae, mergit longa atque insignis honorum
pagina. descendunt statuae vestemque sequuntur,
ipsas deinde rotas bigarum inpacta securis
caedit et inmeritis franguntur crura caballis ; 60
iam strident ignes, iam follibus atque caminis
ardet adoratum populo caput et crepat ingens
Seianus, deinde ex facie toto orbe secunda
fiunt urceoli pelves sartago matellae.2
pone domi laurus, due in Capitolia magnum 65
cretatumque bovem ! Seianus ducitur unco
spectandus, gaudent omnes : " quae labra, quis illi
vultus erat ! numquam, si quid milii credis, amavi
hunc bominem. sed quo cecidit sub crimine ?
quisnam
i quae is a conj. by Blich. (1893), the space being blank
in tbe MSS. aut ne perniciosa petantur Lach. Housm. has
a mark of interrogation after petuntur. As the text stands,
sunt must be understood after quae. Owen conj. prope.
2 matellae P : patellae i//.
~~ i In i 95-6 foil, the sportula (properly a basket) is spoken
of as a meal actually carried away by the clients. The
196
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
has been gained by the dinner-dole snugly lying in
their purses,1 marching at his bridle-rein. Even then
the philosopher found food for laughter at every
meeting with his kind : his wisdom shows us that men
■QJLhiffh distinction and destined to set great examples'
maybe"born in a dullard.air, and in the land of mutton -
heads.2 He laughed at the troubles, ay and at the
pleasures, of the crowd, sometimes too at their tears,
while for himself he would bid frowning fortune go
hang, and point at her the finger of derision.
54 Thus it is that thejhings for which we pray,
and for which it is right and proper to load the
knees of the Gods with wax,_are either profitless or
pernicious ! ^Some men are hurled headlong by over-
great power and the envy to which it exposesthem :
they are wrecked by the long and illustrious roll of
their honours : down come their statues, obedient to
the rope ; the axe hews in pieces their chariot wheels
and the legs of the unoffending horses. And now
the flames are hissing, and amid the roar of furnace
and of bellows the head of the mighty Sejanus,3
the darling of the mob, is burning and crackling,
and from that face, which was but lately second
in the entire world, are being fashioned pipkins,
pitchers, frying-pans and slop-pails! Up with the
laurel-wreaths over your doors ! Lead forth a grand
chalked bull to the Capitol ! Sejanus is being dragged
along by a hook, as a show and joy to all ! « What
a lip the fellow had ! What a face ! " — « Believe me,
I never liked the man ! " — " But on what charge was
present passage refers to the later practice which substituted
a sum of 100 quadrantes (4 sesterces) for the meal in kind.
2 Abdera, in Thrace, the birthplace of Democritus, had
the reputation of being a breeder of thick-heads.
8 The upstart favourite of Tiberius.
197
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
delator ? quibus indicibus, quo teste probavit ? " 70
" nil horum ; verbosa et grandis epistula venit
a Capreis." " bene habet, nil plus interrogo."
Sed quid
turba Remi ? sequitur fortunara ut semper et odit
damnatos. idem populus/si Nortia Tusco
favisset, si oppressa foret secura senectus 75
principis, hac ipsa Seianum dicererllora
Augustum. iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli
vendimus, effudit curas ; nam qui dabat olim
imperium fasces legiones omnia, nunc se
continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, 80
panem et circenses.
" Perituros audio multos."
"nil dubium, magna est fornacula." " pallidulus mi
Bruttidius meus ad Martis fuit obvius aram ;
quam timeo, victus ne poenas exigat Aiax,
ut male defensus." "curramus praecipites et 85
dum iacet in ripa, calcemus Caesaris hostem."
" sed videant servi, ne quis neget et pavidum in ius
cervice obstricta dominum trahat."
Hi sermones
tunc de Seiano, secreta haec murmura vulgi.
visne salutari sicut Seianus, habere 90
1 Tiberius was living in grim solitude in his rock fortress
on the island of Capreae when he sent to the Senate the
famous letter -the verbosa et grandis epistola— which
hurried Sejanus to his doom on the 18th of October,
A D. 29. (The passage in Tacitus which described the whole
event is unfortunately lost; but the fine account of Dion
Cassius is given in my Annals of Tacitus, vol. i. pp. 341-353 —
G. G. R.).
198
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
he condemned ? Who informed against him ? What
was the evidence, who the witnesses, who made good
the case?" — "Nothing of the sort; a great and
wordy letter came from Capri." J — " Good ; I ask no
more."
72 And what does the mob of Remus say ? It
follows fortune, as it always does, and rails against
the condemned. That same rabble, if Nortia had
smiled upon the Etruscan,2 if the aged Emperor had
been struck down unawares, would in that very hour
have conferred upon Sejanus the title of Augustus.
Now that no one buys our votes, the public has long
since cast off its cares ; the people that once__be-
stowed commands, consulships, legions and all else,
now meddles no more and longs eagerly for just two_
things — Bread and (jamesj_
sf" 1 hear that many~are to perish." — " No doubt
of it; there is a big furnace ready." — "My friend
Brutidius 3 looked a trifle pale when I met him at
the Altar of Mars. ) I tremble lest the defeated
Ajax should take vengeance for having been so ill-
defended." 4 — " Let us rush headlong and trample
on Caesar's enemy, while he lies upon the bank !" —
"Ay, and letj)ur_slaves see us, that none bear witness
against us, and drag their trembling master into
court with a halter round his neck."
68 Such was the talk at the moment about Sejanus ;
such were the mutterings of the crowd. And would
you like to be courted like Sejanus ? To be as rich
2 Sejanus was a native of Volsinii in Elruria ; Nortia was
the Etruscan Goddess ofJFortune.
8 A famous orator.
4 Apparently Ajax here stands for Tiberius, who, it is
thought, may revenge himself by punishing those who have
not sufficiently guarded his person.
199
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
tantundem, atque illi summas donare curules,
ilium exercitibus praeponere, tutor haberi
principis angusta * Caprearum in rupe sedentis
cum grege Chaldaeo ? vis certe pila cohortes
egregios equites et castra domestica; quidni 95
haec cupias ? et qui nolunt occidere quemquam,
posse volunt. sed quae praeclara et prospera tanti,
ut rebus laetis par sit mensura malorum ?
huius qui trahitur praetextam sumere mavis,
an Fidenarum Gabiorumque esse potestas 100
et de mensura ius dicere, vasa minora
frangere pannosus vacuis aedilis Vlubris ?
ergo quid optandum foret ignorasse fateris
Seianum ; nam qui nimios optabat honores
et nimias poscebat~5pes~ numerosa pai-abat 105
exceTsae turris tabulata, unde altior esset
casus et inpulsae praeceps inmane ruinae.
quid Crassos, quid Pompeios evertit et ilium,
ad sua qui domitos deduxit flagra Quirites ?
summus nempe locus nulla non arte petitus, 110
magnaque numinibus vota exaudita malignis.
ad generum Cereris sine caede ac vulnere pauci
descendunt reges et sicca morte tyi'anni.
Eloquium ac famam Demosthenis aut Ciceronis
incipit optare et totis quinquatribus optat 115
quisquis adhuc uno parcam 2 colit asse Minervam,
1 angusta 4-Biich. (1910) Housm.: augusta PABiich. (1893).
2 parcam P : partam i|/.
1 The highest and richest class of Equites were called
Equites Illustres or Splendidi.
200
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
as he was ? To bestow on one man the ivory chairs
of office, appoint another to the command of armies,
and be counted guardian of a Prince seated on the
narrow ledge of Capri with his herd of Chaldaean
astrologers ? You would like, no doubt, to have Cen-
turions, Cohorts, and Illustrious x Knights at your call,
and to possess a camp of your own ? Why should you
not? Even those who don't want to kill anybody
would Tike to have the power to do it. But what gran-
jJgur, what nigh fortune, are worth the having if the
joy is nverbalancecTby the calamities they bring with
them ? Would you rather choose to wear the bordered
robe of the man now being dragged along the streets,
or to be a magnate at Fidenae or Gabii, adjudicating
upon weights, or smashing vessels of short measure,
as a thread-bare Aedile at deserted Ulubrae?*""' You
admit, then, that Sejanus did no>-know what things
were to be desired ; for in coveting excessive honours,
and seeking excessive wealth, he was but building
up the many stories of a lofty tower whence the fall
would be the greater, and the crash of headlong
ruin more terrific. What was it that overthrew the
Crassi, and' the Pompeii, and him who brought the
conquered Quirites under his lash ? 3 What but lust
for the highest place pursued by every kind of
means ? What but ambitious prayers granted by un-
kindly Gods ? Few indeed are the kings who go down
to Ceres' son-in-law i save by sword and slaughter —
few the tyrants that perish by a bloodless death !
114 Every schoolboy who worships Minerva with a
modest penny fee, attended by a slave to guard his
little satchel, prays all through his holidays for elo-
2 Fidenae, Gabii, Ulubrae, email and deserted towns in
Latium. B Caesar. 4 Pluto.
201
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
quem sequitur custos angustae vernula capsae.
eloquio sed uterque perit orator, utruraque
largus et exundans leto dedit ingenii fons.
ingenio raanus est et cervix caesa, nee umquam 120
sanguine causidici maduerunt rostra pusilli.
" o fortunatam natam me consule Romam " : l
Antoni gladios potuit contemnere, si sic
omnia dixisset. ridenda poemata malo
quam te, conspicuae divina Philippica famae, 125
volveris a prima quae proxima. saevus et ilium
exitus eripuit, quem mirabantur Athenae
torrentem et pleni moderantem frena theatri.
dis ille adversis genitus fatoque sinistra,
quem pater ardentis massae fuligine lippus 130
a carbone et forcipibus gladiosque paranti
mcude et luteo Vulcano ad rhetora misit.
Bellorum exuviae, truncis adfixa tropaeis
lorica et fracta de casside buccula pendens
et curtum temone iugum victaeque triremis 135
aplustre et summo tristis captivus in arcu
humanis maiora bonis creduntur. ad hoc se
Romanus Graiusque et barbarus induperator
erexit, causas discriminis atque laboris
inde habuit ; tanto maior famae sitis est quam 140
virtutis. quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam,
1 This line is taken from the poem (De suo Consulatu)
which Cicero wrote to glorify the events of his Consulship
To the many who are not gifted with the divine faculty of
poesy it may he a consolation to know that a writer of the
most splendid prose could be guilty of such a rubbishy line as
that here quoted.
202
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
quence, for the fame of a Cicero or a Demosthenes.
Xgt it was eloquence that brought both pjalflcs *f>
their death ; each perished by the copious and over-
flowing torrent of his own genius. It was his genius
that cut off the hand, and severed the neck, of
Cicero ; never yet did futile pleader stain the rostra
with his blood !
" 0 happy Fate for the Roman State
Was the date of my great Consulate !"
Had Cicero always spoken thus, he might have
laughed at the swords of Antony. Better verses
meet only for contempt than thou, O famous and
divine Philippic, that comest out second on the roll !
Terrible, too, was the death of him whom Athens
loved to hear sweeping along and holding in check
the crowded theatre. Unfriendly were the Gods,
and evil the star, under whom was born the man
whom his father, blear-eyed with the soot of glow-
ing ore, sent away from the coal, the pincers and
the sword-fashioning anvil of grimy Vulcan,1 to study
the art of the rhetorician !
133 The spoils of war and trophies fastened upon
stumps — a breast-plate, a cheek-strap hanging from
a broken helmet, a yoke shorn of its pole, the flag-
staff of a captured galley, or a captive sorrowing
on a triumphal arch — such things are deemed glories
too great for man ; these are the prizes for which
every General strives, be he Greek, Roman, or bar-
barian ; it is for these that he endures toil and peril :
so much greater is the thirst for glory than for virtue !
For who would embrace virtue herself if you stripped
1 Demosthenes' father, of the same name, was a blacksmith
— or at least a manufacturer of swords.
203
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
praemia si tollas ? patriam tamen obruit olim
gloria paucorum et laudis titulique cupido
haesuri saxis cinerum custodibus, ad quae
discutienda valent sterilis mala robora fici, 145
quandoquidem data sunt ipsis quoque fata sepulcris.
Expende Hannibalem ; quot libras in duce summo
invenies ? hie est, quern non capit Africa Mauro
percussa oceano Niloque admota tepenti,
rursus ad Aethiopum populos aliosque * ele-
phantos ! 150
additur impeviis Hispania, Pyrenaeum
transilit ; opposuit natura Alpemque nivemque :
diducit scopulos et montem rumpit aceto.
iam tenet Italiam, tamen ultra pergere tendit :
" acti," 2 inquit, " nihil est, nisi Poeno milite
portas 155
frangimus et media vexillum pono Subura."
o qualis faeies et quali digna tabella,
cum Gaetula ducem portaret belua luscum !
exitus ergo quis est ? o gloria, vincitur idem
nempe et in exilium praeceps fugit atque ibi
magnus 160
mh'andusque cliens sedet ad praetoria regis,
donee Bithyno libeat vigilare tyranno.
finem animae, quae res humanas miscuit olim,
non gladii, non saxa dabunt nee tela, sed ille
Cannarum vindex et tanti sanguinis ultor 165
anulus. i demens et saevas curre per Alpes,
ut pueris placeas et declamatio fias !
1 aliosque \p : altosque PA.
2 acti ^Housm. Biich. (1910) : actum PT Biich. (1893).
204
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
her of her rewards ? Yet full oft has a land been
destroyed by the vainglory of a few, by the lust for
honour and for a title that shall cling to the stones
that guard their ashes — stones which may be rent
asunder by the rude strength of the barren fig-tree,
seeing that even sepulchres have their doom assigned
to them !
147 Put Hannibal into the scales ; how many pounds'
weight will you find in that greatest of commanders?
This is the man for whom Africa was all too small — ■
a land beaten by the Moorish sea and stretching to
the steaming Nile, and then, again, to the tribes ot
Aethiopia and a new race of Elephants ! Spain is
added to his dominions : he overleaps the Pyrenees ;
Nature throws in his way Alps and snow : he splits
the rocks asunder, and breaks up the mountain-side
with vinegar ! And now Italy is in his grasp, but
still on he presses: "Nought is accomplished," he
cries, "until my Punic host breaks down the city
gates, and I plant my standard in the midst of the
Subura ! " O what a sight was that ! What a picture
it would make, the one-eyed General riding on the
Gaetulian monster ! What then was his end ? Alas
for glory ! A conquered man, he flees headlong into
exile, and there he sits, a mighty and marvellous
suppliant, in the King's antechamber, until it please
his Bithynian Majesty l to awake ! No sword, no
stone, no javelin shall end the life which once
wrought havoc throughout the world : that little ring2
shall avenge Cannae and all those seas of blood.
On ! on ! thou madman, and race over the wintry
Alps, that thou mayest be the delight of schoolboys
and supply declaimers with a theme !
1 Prusias L, king of Bithynia. 2 Containing poison.
205
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
Unus Pellaeo iuveni non sufficit orbis ;
aestuat infelix angusto limite mundi
ut Gyarae clausus scopulis parvaque Seripho ; 170
cum tamen a figulis munitam intraverit urbem,
sarcophago contentus erit. mors sola fatetur
quantula sint hominum corpuscula. creditur olim
velificatus Atlios et quidquid Graecia mendax
audet in historia, constratum classibus isdem 175
suppositumque rotis solidum mare, credimus altos
defecisse amnes epotaque flumina Medo
prandente et madidis cantat quae Sostratus alis ;
ille tamen qualis rediit Salamine relicta,
in Corum atque Eurum solitus saevire flagellis 180
barbarus Aeolio numquam hoc in carcere passos,
ipsum conpedibus qui vinxerat Ennosigaeum :
mitius id sane, quod non et stigmate dignum
credidit; huic quisquam vellet servire deorum?
sed qualis rediit? nempe una nave, cruentis 185
fluctibus ac tarda per densa cadavera prora.
has totiens optata exegit gloria poenas.
« Da spatium vitae, multos da, Iuppiter, annos " :
hoc recto vultu, solum hoc, et pallidus optas.
sed quam continuis et quantis longa senectus 190
plena malis! deformem et taetrum ante omnia
vultum
dissimilemque sui, deformem pro cute pellem
i Alexander the Great, b. at Pella B.C. 356, &. at Babylon
B.C. 323.
206
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
168 One globe is all too little for the youth of
Pella ; x he chafes uneasily within the narrow limits
of the world, as though he were cooped up within
the rocks of Gyara or the diminutive Seriphos ; but
yet when once he shall have entered the city forti-
fied by the potter's art,2 a sarcophagus will suffice
him ! Death alone proclaims how small are our poor
Jiuman bodies ! We Have heard how ships once
sailed through Mount Athos, and all the lying tales
of Grecian history ; how the sea was paved by those
self-same ships, and gave solid support to chariot-
wheels ; how deep rivers failed, and whole streams
were drunk dry when the Persian breakfasted, with
all the fables of which Sostratus 3 sings with reeking
pinions. But in what plight did that king 4 flee from
Salamis ? he that had been wont to inflict barbaric
stripes upon the winds Corus and Eurus — never
treated thus in their Aeolian prison-house— he who
had bound the Earth-shaker himself with chains,
deeming it clemency, forsooth, not to think him
worthy of a branding also : what god, indeed, would
be willing to serve such a master ? — in what plight did
he return ? Why, in a single ship ; on blood-stained
waves, the prow slowly forcing her way through
waters thick with corpses ! Such was the penalty
exacted for that long-desired glory !
188 Give me length of days, give me many years.
O Jhpiter! S"eh is" your One and""only prayeruin
days of strength or of sickness ; yet- ^nw grpg"*, how
unceasing, are the miseries of old age ! Look first
at the misshapen and ungainly face, so unlike its,
former self: see the unsightly hide that serves for
2 The famous walls of Babylon were built of brick.
8 An unknown poet. * Xerxes.
207
1VVENALIS SATVRA X
pendentisque genas et talis aspice rugas
quales, umbriferos ubi pandit Thabraca saltus,
in vetula scalpit iam mater simia bucca. 195
plurima sunt iuvenum discrimina ; pulchrior ille
hoc atque ille1 alio, multum hie robustior illo :
una senum facies. cum voce trementia membra
et iam leve caput madidique infantia nasi,
frangendus misero gingiva panis inermi ; 200
usque adeo gravis uxori natisque sibique,
ut captatori moveat fastidia Cosso.
non eadem vini atque cibi torpente palato
' gaudia. nam coitus iam longa oblivio, vel si
coneris, iacet exiguus cum ramice nervus 205
et quamvis tota palpetur nocte, iacebit.
anne aliquid sperare potest haec inguinis aegri
canities ? quid quod merito suspecta libido est
quae venerem adfectat sine viribus ?
Aspice partis
nunc damnum alterius. nam quae cantante
voluptas,
sit licet eximius, citharoedo sive Seleuco
et quibus aurata mos est fulgere lacerna ?
quid refert, magni sedeat qua parte theatri
qui vix cornicines exaudiet atque tubarum
concentus ? clamore opus est, ut sentiat auris 215
quern dicat venisse puer, quot nuntiet boras.
Praeterea minimus gelido iam in corpore sanguis
febre calet sola, circumsilit agmine facto
morborum omne genus, quorum si nomina quaeras,
promptius expediam quot amaverit Oppia moe-
1 chos, 22°
quot Themison aegros autumno Occident uno,
quot Basilus socios, quot circumscripserit Hirrus
1 ille ij/5 om. by PO. Housm. conj. ore,.
208
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
skin ; see the pendulous cheeks and the wrinkles like
those which a matron baboon carves upon her aged
jaws in the shaded glades of Thabraca.1 The young
men differ in various ways : this man is handsomer
than that, and he than another ; one is stronger
than another: but old men all look nlile Then-
voices are as shaky as their limbs, their heads without
hair, their noses drivelling as in childhood. Theii
bread, poor wretches, has to be munched by tooth-
less gums;^so offensive do they become to then-
wives, their children"and themselves, that even the
legacy-hunter, Cossus, turns from them in disgust.
Their sluggish palate takes joy in wine or food no
longer, and all pleasures of the flesh have, bppn long
ago forgotten. . . .
209 And now consider the loss of another sense :
what joy has the old man in song, however famous
be the singer? what joy in the harping of Seleucus
himself, or of those who shine resplendent in gold-
embroidered robes ? What matters it in what part
of the great theatre he sits when he can scarce hear
the horns and trumpets when they all blow together ?
The slave who announces a visitor, or tells the time ot
day, must needs shout in his ear if he is to be heard.
217 Besides all this,J;he little blood in his now chilly
frame is never warm except with fever; diseases of
every kind dance aiumid him in a bo3y;'i'f you ask
of me their names, 1 could more readily tell you the
number of Oppia's paramours, how many patients
Themison killed in one season, how many partners
1 A town in Numidia.
209
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
pupillos ; quot longa viros exorbeat uno
Maura die, quot discipulos inclinet Hamillus ; /
percurram citius quot villas possideat nunc • 225
quo tondente gravis iuveni mihi barba sonabat.
ille umero, hie lumbis, hie coxa debilis ; ambos
perdidit ille oculos et luscis invidet ; huius
pallida labra cibum accipiunt digitis alienis,
ipse ad conspectum cenae diducere rictum 230
suetus hiat tantum ceu pullus hirundinis, ad quern
ore volat pleno rnater ieiuna. sed omni
membrorum damno maior dementia, quae nee
nomina servorum nee vultum agnoscit amici
cum quo praeterita cenavit nocte, nee illos 235
quos genuit, quos eduxit. nam codice saevo
heredes vetat esse suos, bona tota feruntur
ad Phialen ; tantum artificis valet halitus oris
quod steterat multis in career e fornicis anr-is.
Ut vigeant sensus animi, ducenda tamen sunt 240
funera natorum, rogus aspiciendus amatae
coniugis et fratris plenaeque sororibus urnae.
haec data poena diu viventibus, ut renovata
semper clade domus multis in luctibus inque
perpetuo maerore et nigra veste senescant. 245
rex Pylius, magno si quicquam credis Homero,
exemplum vitae fuit a cornice secundae.
felix nimirum, qui tot per saecula mortem
distulit atque suos iam dextra conputat annos,
i Referring to some barber who had made money, and
was obnoxious to Juvenal as a rich parvenu.
2 Nestor.
2IO
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
were defrauded by Basilus, how many wards cor-
rupted by HirniSj how many lovers tall Maura wears
out in a single season ; I could sooner run over the
number of villas now belonging to the barber under
whose razor my stiff youthful beard used to grate.1
One suffers in the shoulder, another in the loins,
a third in the hip ; another has lost both eyes, and
envies those who have one ; another takes food into
his pallid lips from someone else's fingers, while he
whose jaws used to fly open at the sight of his dinner,
now only gapes like the young of a swallow whose
fasting mother flies to him with well-laden beak.
BuJLjKQrse than any loss of limh is Hie fflj)ir.g wi^d
which forgets the names of slaves, and cannot re-
cognise the face of the old friend who dined with
him last night, nor those of the children whom he
has begotten and brought up. For by a cruel will
he cuts off his own flesh and blood and leaves all his
estate to Phial e — so potent was the breath of that
alluring mouth which had plied its trade for so many
years in her narrow archway.
240 And though the powers of his mind be strong
as ever, yej^jnust he carry forth his sons to burial ;
hemust behold the luneral pyres of his beloved wife
and his brothers, and urns filled with the ashes of his
sisters. Such are the penalties nf the ]n-na- ljy^-- h*.
*ippr J"1"™^ nfi-"' "wlamit.y befall liip bnnsPj he IjyeQ
in a world of sorrow, he grows old amid continual
lamentation and in the garb of woe. If we can
believe mighty Homer, the King of Pylos2 was
an example of long life second only to the crow ;
happy forsooth in this that he had put off death for
so many generations, and had so often quaffed the
new-made wine, counting now his years upon his
211
p 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
quique novum totiens mustum bibit. oro, V*™m^
per
attendas quantum de legibus ipse queratur
fatorum et nimio de stamine, cum videt acris
Antilochi barbam ardentem, cum quaerit ab omm
quisquis adest socius/ cur baec in tempora duret
quod facinus Jignum tarn longo admisent aeyo. 255
haec eadem Peleus, raptum cum luget Achillem,
atque alius cui fas Ithacum lugere natantem.
Tncolumi Troia Priamus venisset ad umbras
Assaraci magnis sollemnibus Hectare funus
portante ac reliquis fratrum cervicibus inter 2W
Iliadum lacrimas, ut primes edere planctus
Cassandra inciperet scissaque Polyxena palla,
si foret extinctus diverso tempore, quo non
coeperat audaces Paris aedificare carinas,
longa dies igitur quid contulit ? omnia vidit ^bo
eversa et flammis Asiam ferroque cadentem.
tunc miles tremulus posita tulit anna tiara
et ruit ante aram summi Iovis ut vetulus bos,
qui domini cultris tenue et miserabile collum
praebet ab in grato iam fastiditus aratro. ^ / u
exitus ille utcumque hominis, sed torva canino
latravit rictu quae post hunc vixerat uxor.
Festino ad nostros et regem transeo 1 onti
et Croesum, quem vox iusti facunda Soloms
respicere ad longae iussit spatia ultima vitae. 2 i o
exilium et career Minturnarumque paludes
et mendicatus victa Carthagine pams
i socins P : socio <J< and Housm.
i i e bad begun to count by hundreds.
2 Nestor's son. s ardentem, i.e. on the pyre.
i Laertes, father of Ulysses.
212
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
right hand.1 But mark for a moment, I beg, how
he bewails the decrees of fate and his too-long thread
of life, when he beholds the beard of his brave
Antilochus 2 in the flames,3 and asks of every friend
around him why he has lived so long, what crime
he has committed to deserve such length of days.
Thus did Peleus also mourn when he lost Achilles ;
and so that other father 4 who had to bewail the sea-
roving Ithacan. Had Priam perished at some other
time, before Paris began to build his audacious ships,
he would have gone down to the shade of Assaracus 5
when Troy was still standing, and with regal pomp ;
his body would have been borne on the shoulders of
Hector and his brothers amid the tears of Ilion's
daughters, and the rending of Polyxena's 6 gar-
ments : Cassandra 6 would have led the cries of woe.
What boon did length of days bring to him ? He
saw everything in ruins, and Asia perishing by fire
and the sword. Laying aside his tiara, and arming
himself, he fell, a trembling soldier, before the altar
of Almighty Jove, like an aged ox discarded by the
thankless plough who offers his poor lean neck to his
master's knife. Priam's death was at least that of
a human being ; but his wife 7 lived on to open her
mouth with the savage barking of a dog.
273 I hasten to our own countrymen, passing by
the king of Pontus 8 and Croesus,9 who was bidden
by the wise and eloquent Solon to look to the last
lap of a long life. It was this that brought Marius
to exile and to prison, it took him to the swamps
of Minturnae and made him beg his bread in the
5 Son of Tros, from whom the Trojans took their name.
6 Daughters of Priam. 7 Hecuba.
8 Mithridates, 9 The wealthy king of Lydia.
213
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
hinc causas habuere ; quid illo cive tulisset
natura in terris, quid Roma beatius umquam,
si circuniducto captivorum agmine et omni 280
bellorum pompa animam exhalasset opimam,
cum de Teutonico vellet descendere curru ?
provida Pompeio dederat Campania febres
optandas, sed multae urbes et publica vota
vicevunt : igitur Fortuna ipsius et urbis 285
servatum victo caput abstulit. hoc cruciatu
Lentulus, hac poena caruit ceciditque Cethegus
integer, et iacuit Catilina cadavere toto.
Formam optat modico pueris, maiore puellis
murmure, cum Veneris fanum videt, anxia mater 290
usque ad delicias votorum. " cur tamen/' inquit,
" corripias ? pulchra gaudet Latona Diana."
sed vetat optari faciem Lucretia qualem
ipsa habuit, cuperet Rutilae Verginia gibbum
accipere atque suum Rutilae dare, filius autem 295
corporis egregii miseros trepidosque parentes
semper habet ; rara est adeo concord ia formae
atque pudicitiae. sanctos licet horrida mores
tradiderit domus ac veteres imitata Sabinos,
praeterea castum ingenium vultumque modesto 300
sanguine ferventem tribuat natura benigna
larga manu (quid enim puero conferre potest plus
custody et cura natura potentior omni ?),
non licet esse viro ; nam prodiga corruptoris
improbitas ipsos audet temptare parentes : 305
1 i.e. after the battle of Campi Raudii, near Vercellae, in
BC- 101. ... . . . _A
2 When Pompey lay dangerously ill of a fever in B.C. 5u
many of the towns of Italy offered vows and sacrifices for his
recovery.
214
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
Carthage that he had conquered. What could Nature
ever in all the world have produced more glorious
than him, if after parading his troops of captives
with all the pomp of war he had breathed forth his
soul in glory as he was about to step down from his
Teutonic car ? x Kindly Campania gave to Pompey
a fever, which he might have prayed for as a boon 2 ;
but the public prayers of all those cities gained the
day ; so his own fortune and that of Rome preserved
him to be vanquished and to lose his head. No such
cruel thing befell Lentulus3; Cethegus 3 escaped
such punishment and fell whole ; and Catiline's corpse
lay unviolated.
289 When the loving mother passes the temple of
Venus, she prays in whispered breath for her boys —
more loudly, and entering into the most trifling
.particulars, for her daughters — th^f, *hpy ™ay lmvp
beautyT " And why should I not ? " she asks ; " did
not Latona rejoice in Diana's beauty ? " Yes : but
Lucretia forbids us to pray for a face like her own ;
and Verginia would gladly take Rutila's hump and
give her own fair form to Rutila. A handsome son
keeps his parents in constant fear and misery ; _so
rarely do modestyand good looks go together! For
though his home be strict, and have ta~ught him
ways as pure as those of the ancient Sabines, and
though Nature besides with kindly hand have
lavishly gifted him with a pure mind and a cheek
mantling with modest blood— and what better thing
can Nature, more careful, more potent than any
guardian, bestow upon a youth ? — he will not be
allowed to become a man. The lavish wickedness of
some se.durpr "'r1'11 tpTVipt the boy's nwn parents : such
3 Accomplices in Catiline's conspiracy.
215
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
tanta in muneribus fiducia. nullus ephebum
deformem saeva castravit in arce tyrannus,
nee praetextatum rapuit Nero loripedem nee
strumosum atque utero pariter gibboque tumentem.
I nunc et iuvenis specie laetare tui, quern 310
maiora expectant discrimina. fiet adulter
publicus et poenas metuet quascumque maritis
iratis x debet, nee erit felicior astro
Martis, ut in laqueos numquam incidat. exigit autem
interdum ille dolor plus quam lex ulla dolori 315
concessit: necat hie ferro, secat ille cruentis
verberibus, quosdara moechos et mugilis intrat.
sed tuus Endymion dilectae fiet adulter
matronae. mox cum dederit Servilia nummos,
fiet et illius quam non amat, exuet omnem 320
corporis ornatum : quid enim ulla negaverit udis
inguinibus, sive est haec Oppia sive Catulla?
deterior totos habet illic femina mores.
" sed casto quid forma nOcet ? " quid pi'ofuit immo
Hippolyto grave propositum, quid Bellorophonti? 325
erubuit nempe haec ceu fastidita, repulsa,
nee Stheneboea minus quam Cressa, excanduit, et se
concussere ambae. mulier saevissima tunc est,
cum stimulos odio pudor admovet. v
Elige quidnam
suadendum esse putes cui nubere Caesaris uxor 330
destinat ? optimus hie et formosissimus idem
1 irati PT : exire irati A : exigere irati ip : marili irati
Biich.Owen : lex irae conj. Housm.: maritis iratis Rigalt
Biich. (1910).
1 i.e. however noble the lady may be.
216
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
trust can be placed in money ! No misshapen youth
was everiinseved Ivy cruel tyrant in his castle ; never
did Nero have a bandy-legged or scrofulous favourite,
or one that was hump-backed or pot-bellied !
310 Go to now, you that revel in your son's beauty ;
think of the deadly perils that lie before him. He
will become a promiscuous gallant, and have to fear
all the vpnnrpnnr-p rlnp fn. m1tr.»g^ hmbind: ; no
luckier than Mars, he will not fail to fall into the net.
And_sonietimes the husband's wrath evaptg greater
U£nalties than any law allows : one lover is slain
by the sword, another bleeds under the lash ; some
undergo the punishment of the mullet. Your dear
Endymion will become the gallant of some matron
whom he loves ; but before long, when Servilia has
taken him into her pay, he will serve one also whom
he loves not, and will strip her of all her orna-
ments ; for what can any woman, be she an Oppia or
a Catulla,1 deny to the man who serves her passion ?
It is on her passion that, a harl woman's whole nature
centres, "But how does beauty hurt the chaste?"
you ask. Well, what availed Hippolytus or Bellero-
phon 2 their firm resolve ? The Cretan lady flared
up as though repelled with scorn ; no less furious
was Stheneboea. Both dames lashed themselves into
fury ; for never is woman so savage as when her
hatred is goaded on by shame. "- ~~*
329 And now tell me what counsel you think should
be given to him s, whom Caesar's wife is minded to
wed. Best and fairest of a patrician house, the un-
2 As Mr. Duff puts it, " Hippolytus and Bellerophon are
flie Josephs of the pagan mythology."
3 C. Silius, brought to ruin by the passion entertained for
him by Messalina, wife of Claudius (Tac. Ann. xi. 12 and
26 foil.).
217
IVVENALIS SATVRA X
gentis patriciae rapitur miser extinguendus
Messalinae oculis ; dudum sedet ilia parato
flammeolo Tyriusque palam genialis in hovtis
sternitur et ritu decies centena dabuntur 335
antiquo, veniet cum signatoribus auspex.
haec tu secreta et paucis commissa putabas ?
non nisi legitime vult nubere. quid placeat die :
ni parere velis, pereundum erit ante lucernas ;
si scelus admittas, dabitur mora parvula, dum res 340
nota urbi et populo contingat principis aurem.
dedecus ille domus sciet ultimus ; interea tu
obsequere imperio, si tanti vita dierum
paucorum. quidquid levius meliusve putaris,
praebenda est gladio pulchra haec et Candida
cervix. 345
Nil ergo optabunt homines ? si consilium vis,
pei*mittes ipsis expendere numinibus quid
conveniat nobis rebusque sit utile nostris.
nam pro iucundis aptissima quaeque dabunt di :
carior est illis homo quam sibi. nos animorum 350
inpulsu et caeca magnaque cupidine ducti
coniugium petimus partumque uxoris ; at illis
notum qui pueri qualisque futura sit uxor,
ut tamen et poscas aliquid voveasque sacellis
exta et candiduli divina tomacula porci, 355
orand um est ut sit mens Sana in coi-pore sano ;
fortem posce animum mortis terrore carentem,
qui spatium vitae extremum inter munera ponat
naturae, qui ferre queat quoscumque labores,
2l8
JUVENAL, SATIRE X
happy youth is dragged to destruction by Messalina's
eyes. She has long been seated ; her bridal veil is
ready ; the Tyrian nuptial couch is being spread
openly in the gardens ; a dowry of one million ses-
terces will be given after the ancient fashion, the
soothsayer and the witnesses will be there. And you
thought these things were secret, did you, known
only to a few? But the lady will not wed save with
all the due forms. Say what is your resolve : if you
say nay to her, you will have to perish before the
lighting of the lamps ; if you perpetrate the crime,
you will have a brief respite until the affair, known
already to the city and the people, shall come to the
Prince's ears ; he will be the last to know of the
dishonour of his house. Meanwhile, if you value a
few days of life so highly, obey your orders : what-
ever you may deem the easier and the better way,
that fair white neck of yours will have to be offered
to the sword.
346 Is there nothing then for which men shall
pray? If you ask my counsel, you will leave it to
the gods themselves to provide what is good for us,
and what will be serviceable for our state; for, in
place of what is pipping-, they will give »s what.
is best, Mfin is dearer to them than he is to
hiniself. Impelled by strong and blind desire, we
ask for wife and offspring ; but the gods know ot
what sort the sons,^>f what sort the wife, will be.
Nevertheless that you may have something to pray
for, and be able to offer to the shrines entrails and
presaging sausages from a white porker^ you should
pray for a sonnrl minrl in a sound body j tor a stout
heart that has no tear of dentil, and "deems length ot
days the least of Nature's gif_ts ; that can endure any
219
IVVENALIS SATVRA XI
nesciat irasci, cupiat nihil et potiores 360
Herculis aerumnas credat saevosque labores
et venere et cenis et pluma Sardanapalli.
monstro quod ipse tibi possis dare ; semita certe
tranquillae per virtutem patet unica vitae.
nullum numen babes, si sit prudentia : nos te, 365
nos facimus, Fortuna, deam caeloque locamus.
SATVRA XI
Atticus eximie si cenat, lautus habetur,
si Rutilus, demens. quid enim maiore cachinno
excipitur vulgi quam pauper Apicius ? omnis
convictus, thermae, stationes, omne theatrum
de Rutilo ; nam dum valida ac iuvenalia membra 5
sufficiunt galeae dumque ardent 1 sanguine, fertur
non cogente quidem sed nee prohibente tribuno,
scripturus leges et regia verba lanistae.
multos porro vides, quos saepe elusus ad ipsum
creditor introitum solet expectare macelli, 10
et quibus in solo vivendi causa palato est.
egregius cenat meliusque miserrimus horum
et cito casurus iam perlucente ruina.
interea gustus elementa per omnia quaerunt
1 ardenti Pif- : aniens U: ardent conj. Rigalt.
1 The last king of the Assyrian empire of Nineveh. A
proverb for luxury.
220
JUVENAL, SATIRE XI
kind of toil : that- k nnws neifcJUej auaiJb ma dfiSlfej and
thinks that the woes and hard labours of Hercules
are better than the loves and the banquets and the
down cushions of Sardanapalus.1 What I commend
to you, you can give to yourself j for it is assuredly
through virtue that lies the one and only rnad t.n a
life of peace. Thou wouldst haYe nn rHin'n.ifyJ O
Fortune, if we had but wisdom ; it is Ave that make
a goddess of thee, and place thee, in the skips.
SATIRE XI
Extravagance and Simplicity of Living
If Atticus dines sumptuously, he is thought a fine
gentleman ; if Rutilus does the same, people say he
has lost his senses : for at what does the public laugh
so loudly as at an Apicius2 reduced to poverty?
Every dinner table, all the baths, lounging-places
and theatres have their fling at Rutilus ; for while
still young, active, and warm-blooded, and fit to wear
a helmet, he plunges on till he will have to enrol
himself — not compelled indeed, but not forbidden by
the Tribune 3 — under the rules and royal mandates
of a trainer of gladiators. You may see many of these
gentry being waited for by an oft-eluded creditor at
the entrance to the meat-market — men whose sole
reason for living lies in their palate. The greater
their straits— though the house is ready to fall, and
the daylight begins to show between the cracks — the
more luxuriously and daintily do they dine. Mean-
while they ransack all the elements for new relishes ;
2 A notorious and wealthy glutton ; sec iv. 23.
3 i.e. a tribunus plebis, whose permission would be neces-
sary.
221
IVVENALIS SATVRA XI
numquam animo pretiis opstantibus ; interius si 15
adtendas, magis ilia iuvant quae pluris emuntur.
ergo liaut difficile est perituram arcessere summam
lancibus oppositis vel matris imagine fracta,
et quadringentis nummis condire gulosum
fictile ; sic veniunt ad miscellanea ludi. 20
refert ergo quis haec eadem paret ; in Rutilo nam
luxuria est, in Ventidio laudabile nomen
sumhV et a censu famam trahit.
Ilium ego iure
despiciam, qui scit quanto sublimior Atlans
omnibus in Libya sit montibus, hie tamen idem 25
ignoret quantum ferrata distet ab area
sacculus. e caelo descendit jvmOl aeavrov
figendum et memori tractandum pectore, sive
coniugium quaeras vel sacri in parte senatus
esse velis ; neque enim loricam poscit Achillis 30
Thersites, in qua se traducebat Vlixes ;
ancipitem seu tu magno discrimine causam
protegere adfectas, te consule, die tibi qui sis,
orator vehemens an Curtius et Matho buccae.
noscenda est mensura sui spectandaque rebus 35
in summis minimisque, etiam cum piscis emetur,
ne mullum cupias, cum sit tibi gobio tantum
in loculis. quis enim te deficiente crumina
et crescente gula manet exitus, aere paterno
ac rebus mersis in ventrem faenoris atque 40
argenti gravis et pecorum agrorumque capacem ?
talibus a dominis post cuncta novissimus exit
1 sumit PS^ : sumptus Heinrich and Housra.
1 Referring to bia contest with Ajax for the arms of
Achilles.
222
JUVENAL, SATIRE XI
no cost ever stands in their way ; if you look closely
into it, the greater the price, the greater the pleasure.
So when they want to raise money to go after the
rest, they think nothing of pawning their plate, or
breaking up the image of their mother ; and having
thus seasoned their gluttonous delf at a cost of four
hundred sesterces, they come down at last to the
hotch-potch of the gladiatorial school. It matters
much therefore who provides the feast ; what is ex-
travagant in Rutilus, gets a fine name in Ventidius,
and takes its character from his means.
23 Rightly do I despise a man who knows how much
higher Atlas is than all the other mountains of
Africa, and yet knows not the difference between
a purse and an iron-bound money-box. The maxim
"Know thyself" comes down to us from the skies;
it should be imprinted in the heart, and stored in
the memory, whether you are looking for a wife,
or wishing for a seat in the sacred Senate: even
Thersites never asked for that breastplate of Achilles
in which Ulysses cut such a sorry figure.1 If you
are preparing to conduct a great and difficult cause,
take counsel of yourself and tell yourself what
you are — are you a great orator, or just a spouter
like Curtius and Matho ? Let a man take his own
measure and have regard to it in things great or
small, even in the buying of a fish, that he set not
his heart upon a mullet, when he has only a gudgeon
in his purse. For if your purse is getting empty
while your maw is expanding, what will be your
end when you have sunk your paternal fortune and
all your belongings in a belly which can hold
capital and solid silver as well as flocks and lands ?
With such owners the last thing to go is the ring ;
223
IVVENALIS SATVRA XI
anulus, et digito mendicat Pollio nudo.
non praematuri cineres nee funus acerbum
luxuriae, sed morte magis metuenda senectus. 45
Hi plerumque gradus : conducta pecunia Romae
et coram dominis consumitur ; inde ubi paulum
nescio quid superest et pallet faenoris auctor,
qui vertere solum, Baias et ad ostrea currunt.
cedere namque fovo iam non est deterius quam 50
Esquilias a ferventi migrare Subura ;
ille dolor solus patriam fugientibus, ilia
maestitia est, caruisse anno circensibus uno :
sanguinis in facie non haeret gutta, morantur
pauci ridiculum et fugientem ex urbe pudorem. 55
Experiere hodie numquid pulcherrima dictu,
Persice, non praestem vitae tibi l moribus et re,
si laudem siliquas occultus ganeo, pultes
coram aliis dictem puero, sed in aure placentas.
nam cum sis conviva mihi promissus, habebis 60
Euandrum, venies Tirynthius aut minor illo
hospes, et ipse tamen contingens sanguine caelum,
alter aquis, alter flammis ad sidera missus,
fercula nunc audi nullis ornata macellis.
de Tiburtino veniet pinguissimus agro
haedulus et toto grege mollior, inscius berbae
necdum ausus virgas humilis mordere salicti,
qui plus lactis habet quam sanguinis ; et montani
i tibi is added by Biich.: P has a blank.
i Alluding to the entertainment of Hercules by Evander
(Virg. Am. viii. 359-365). * Aeneas.
224
JUVENAL, SATIRE XI
poor Pollio, his finger stripped, has to go a-begging !
It is not an early death or an untimely grave that
extravagance has to dread : old age is more terrible
to it than death.
46 The regular stages are these : money is bor-
rowed in Rome and squandered before the owner's
eyes; when some little of it is still left, and the
lender's face grows pale, these gentlemen give leg
bail, and make off for Baiae and its oyster-beds— for
in these days people think no more of absconding
from the Forum than of flitting from the stuffy
Subura to the Esquiline. One pang, one sorrow only,
afflicts these exiles, that they must, for one season,
miss the Circensian games ! No drop of blood lin-
gers in their cheek : Shame is ridiculed as she flees
from the city, and few would bid her stay.
56 To-day, friend Persicus, you will discover
whether I make good, in deed and in my ways ot
life, the fair maxims which I preach, or whether,
while commending beans, I am at heart a glutton:
openly bidding my slave to bring me porridge, but
whispering " cheese-cakes " in his ear. For now that
you have promised to be my guest, you will find in
me an Evander 1 ; you yourself will be the Tirynthian,
or the guest less great than he,2 though he too came
of blood divine — the one by water, the other boi-ne
by fire,3 to the stars. And now hear my feast, which
no meat-market shall adorn. From my Tiburtine farm
there will come a plump kid, tenderest of the flock,
innocent of grass, that has never yet dared to nibble
the twigs of the dwarf willow, and has more of milk
in him than blood ; some wild asparagus, gathered
3 Both heroes were deified ; Hercules met his death by
burning, Aeneas by drowning.
225
IVVENALIS SATVRA XI
asparagi, posito quos legit vilica fuso ;
grandia praeterea tortoque calentia faeno <0
ova adsunt ipsis cum matribus, et servatae
parte anni quales fuerant in vitibus uvae,
Signinum Syriumque pirum, de corbibus isdem
aemula Picenis et odoris mala recentis
nee metuenda tibi, siccatum frigore postquam 75
autumnum et crudi posuere pericula suci.
Haec olim nostri iam luxuriosa senatus
cena fuit ; Curius parvo quae legerat horto
ipse focis brevibus ponebat holuscula, quae nunc
squalidus in magna fastidit compede fossor, 80
qui meminit calidae sapiat quid vulva popinae.
sicci terga suis rara pendentia crate
moris erat quondam festis servare diebus
et natalicium cognatis ponere lardum
accedente nova, si quam dabat hostia, carne. 85
cognatorum aliquis titulo ter consulis atque
castrorum imperiis et dictatoris honore
functus ad has epulas solito maturius ibat,
erectum domito referens a monte ligonem.
cum tremerent autem Fabios durumque Catonem 90
et Scauros et Fabricium, rigidique 1 severos
censoris mores etiam collega timeret,
nemo inter curas et seria duxit habendum,
qualis in Oceani fluctu testudo nataret,
clarum Troiugenis factura et nobile fulcrum ; 95
sed nudo latere et parvis frons aerea lectis
i rigidique <J>,Housm.: postremo P Bach.
"i Mafiftis Curius Dentatus, the conqueror of Pyrrhus, type
of the simple noble Roman of early times.
226
JUVENAL, SATIRE XI
by the bailiff's wife when done with her spindle, and
some lordly eggs, warm in their wisps of hay, to-
gether with the hens that laid them. There will be
grapes too, kept half the year, as fresh as when they
hung upon the tree; pears from Signia and Syria,
and in the same baskets fresh-smelling apples that
rival those of Picenum, and of which you need not
be afraid, seeing that winter's cold has dried up
their autumnal juice, and removed the perils of
unripeness.
77 Such were the banquets of our Senate in days
of old, when already grown luxurious; when Curius,1
with his own hands, would lay upon his modest hearth
the simple herbs he had gathered in his little garden
— herbs scoffed at nowadays by the dirty ditcher
who works in chains, and remembers the savour of
tripe in the reeking cookshop. For feast days, in
olden times, they would keep a side of dried
pork, hanging from an open rack, or put before the
relations a flitch of birthday bacon, with the addition
of some fresh meat, if there happened to be a sacri-
fice to supply it. A kinsman who had thrice been
hailed as Consul, who had commanded armies, and
filled the office of Dictator, would come home earlier
than was his wont for such a feast, shouldering the
spade with which he had been subduing the hill-
side. For when men quailed before a Fabius or a
stern Cato, before a Scaurus or a Fabricius — when
even a Censor might dread the severe verdict of his
colleague2— no one deemed it a matter of grave and
serious concern what kind of tortoise-shell was swim-
ming in the waves of Ocean to form a head-rest for
our Troy-born grandees. Couches in those days were
2 For the quarrel between the censors, see Livy, xxix. 37.
227
C 2
100
105
IVVENALIS SATVRA XI
vile coronati caput ostendebat aselli,
ad quod lascivi ludebant ruris alumni :
tales ergo cibi, qualis domus atque supellex.
Tunc rudis et Graias mirari nescius artes
urbibus eversis praedarum in parte reperta
magnorum artificum frangebat pocula miles,
ut phaleris gauderet equus caelataque cassis
Romuleae simulacra ferae mansuescere iussae
imperii fato, geminos sub rupe Quirinos,
ac nudam effigiem1 clipeo venientis et hasta
pendentisque dei perituro ostenderet hosti.
ponebant igitur Tusco farrata catino :
argenti quod erat, solis fulgebat in armis.
omnia tunc, quibus invideas si lividulus sis. 110
templorum quoque maiestas praesentior, et vox
nocte fere media mediamque audita per urbem
litore ab Oceani Gallis venientibus et dis
officium vatis peragentibus. his monuit nos,
banc rebus Latiis curam praestare solebat 115
fictilis et nullo violatus Iuppiter auro.
Ilia domi natas nostraque ex arbore mensas
tempora viderunt ; bos lignum stabat ad usus,
annosam si forte nucem deiecerat Eurus.
at nunc divitibus cenandi nulla voluptas, 120
nil rhombus, nil damma sapit, putere videntur
unguenta atque rosae, latos nisi sustinet orbes
grande ebur et magno sublimis pardus hiatu
1 Housm. inserts in before clipeo.
i i.e. the god Mars.
228
JUVENAL, SATIRE XI
small, their sides unadorned : a simple headpiece of
bronze would display the head of a be-garlanded ass,
beside which would romp in play the children of the
village. Thus house and furniture were all in keeping
with the fare.
100 The rude soldier of those days had no taste for,
or knowledge of, Greek art; if allotted cups made
by great artists as his share in the booty of a cap-
tured city, he would break them up to provide gay
trappings for his horse, or to chase a helmet that
should display to the dying foe an image of the
Romulean beast bidden by Rome's destiny to grow
tame, with the twin Quirini beneath a i*ock, and the
nude effigy of the God * swooping down with spear
and shield. Their messes of spelt were then served
on platters of earthenware ; such silver as there was
glittered only on their arms — all which things you
may envy if you are at all inclined that way. The
majesty of the temples also was more near to help
us ; it was then that was heard through the entire
city that midnight voice telling how the Gauls were
advancing from the shores of Ocean, the Gods taking
on them the part of prophecy. Such were the warn-
ings of Jupiter, such the care which he bestowed on
the concerns of Latium when he was made of clay,
and undefiled by gold.
117 In those days our tables were home-grown,
made of our own trees ; for such use was kept some
aged chestnut blown down perchance by the South-
western blast. But nowadays a rich man takes no
pleasure in his dinner — his turbot and his venison
have no taste, his unguents and his roses no per-
fume— unless the broad slabs of his dinner-table rest
upon a ramping, gaping leopard of solid ivory, made
22Q
IVVENALIS SATVRA XI
dentibus ex Mis quos mittit porta Syenes
et Mauri celeres et Mauro obscurior Indus, 1^5
et quos deposuit Nabataeo belua saltu
iam nimios capitique graves, hinc surgit orexis,
hinc stomacho vires ; nam pes argenteus ilhs,
anulus in digito quod ferreus. ergo superbum
convivam caveo, qui me sibi comparat et res 1<50
despicit exiguas. adeo nulla uncia nobis
est eboris, nee tessellae nee calculus ex hac
materia, quin ipsa manubria cultellorum
ossea. non tamen his ulla umquam obsonia fiunt
rancidula aut ideo peior gallina secatur. 135
sed nee structor erit cui cedere debeat omnis
pergula, discipulus Trypheri doctoris, aput quern
sumine cum magno lepus atque aper et pygargus
et Scythicae volucres et phoenicopterus ingens
et Gaetulus oryx bebeti lautissima ferro 140
caeditur et tota sonat ulmea cena Subura.
nee frustum capreae subducere nee latus Afrae
novit avis noster, tirunculus ac rudis omni
tempore et exiguae furtis inbutus ofellae.
plebeios calices et paucis assibus emptos 145
porriget incultus puer atque a frigore tutus.
non Phryx aut Lyeius, non a mangone petitus
quisquam erit et magno 1 : cum posces, posce latme.
idem habitus cunctis, tonsi rectique capilli
atque hodie tan turn propter convivia pexi. 150
pastoris duri hie est films, ille bubulci ;
i qvisquam erit et magno ALOT : quisquam erit in magno
PSFGU : qui steterit magno conj. Housm.: in magno si posces
Biich. (1893) Owen ; id magnum Bitch. (1910).
» Now Assouan, on the Roman frontier. The phrase
" portal of Syene" means "the portal consisting of byene,
Syene itself constituting the portal.
230
JUVENAL, SATIRE XI
of the tusks sent to us by the swift-footed Moor from
the portal of Syene,1 or by the still duskier Indian
— or perhaps shed by the monstrous beast in the
Nabataean 2 forest when too big and too heavy for
his head. These are the things that give good ap-
petite and good digestion ; for to these gentlemen
a table with a leg of silver is like a finger with an
iron ring. For this reason I will have none of your
haughty guests to make comparisons between him-
self and me, and look down upon my humble state.
So destitute am I of ivory that neither my dice nor
counters are made of it ; even my knife-handles are
of bone. Yet are not the viands tainted thereby,
nor does the pullet cut up any the worse on that
account. Nor shall I have a carver to whom the
whole carving-school must bow, a pupil of the
learned Trypherus, in whose school is cut up, with
blunt knives, a magnificent feast of hares and sow's
paunches, of boars and antelopes, of Scythian fowls
and tall flamingoes and Gaetulian gazelles, until the
whole Subura rings with the clatter of the elm-wood
banquet. My raw youngster, untutored all his days,
has never learnt how to filch a slice of kid or the
wing of a guinea-fowl, unpractised save in the theft
of scraps. Cups of common ware, bought for a few
pence, will be handed round by an unpolished lad,
clad so as to keep out the cold. No Phrygian or
Lycian youth, none bought from a dealer at a huge
price, will you find ; when you want anything, ask for
it in Latin. They are all dressed alike ; their hair cut
close and uncui'led, and only combed to-day because
of the company. One is the son of a hardy shepherd ;
2 The Nabataei were an Arabian tribe. Bat there are no
elephants in Arabia.
231
IVVENALIS SATVRA XI
suspirat longo non visam tempore matrem,
et casulum et notos tristis desiderat haedos,
ingenui vultus puer ingenuique pudoris,
quales esse decet quos ardens purpura vestit, 155
nee pupillares defert in balnea raucus
testiculos, nee vellendas iam praebuit alas,
crassa nee opposito pavidus tegit inguina guto.
hie tibi vina dabit diffusa in montibus illis
a quibus ipse venit, quorum sub vertice lusit ; 160
[namque una atque eadem est vini patria atque
ministri.]
Forsitan expectes ut Gaditana canoro
incipiant prurire choro plausuque probatae
ad terrain tremulo descendant clune puellae ;
spectant hoc nuptae iuxta recubante marito, 165
quod pudeat narrare aliquem praesentibus ipsis,
inritamentum veneris languentis et acres
divitis urticae ; maior tamen ista voluptas
alterius sexus : magis ille extenditur, et mox
auribus atque oculis concepta urina movetur. 170
non capit has nugas humilis domus. audiat ille
testarum crepitus cum verbis, nudum olido stans
fornice mancipium quibus abstinet, ille fruatur
vocibus obscaenis omnique libidinis arte,
qui Lacedaemonium pytismate lubricat orbem ; 175
namque ibi fortunae veniam damus. alea turpis,
turpe et adulterium mediocribus : haec eadem illi
omnia cum faciunt, hilares nitidique vocantur.
nostra dabunt alios hodie convivia ludos,
conditor Iliados cantabitur atque Maronis 180
altisoni dubiam facientia carmina palmam.
quid refert. tales versus qua voce legantur ?
232
JUVENAL, SATIRE XI
another of the cattle-man : he sighs for the mother
whom he has not seen for so long, and thinks wist-
fully of the little cottage and the kids he knew so
well ; a lad of open countenance and simple modesty,
such as those ought to be who are clothed in glowing
purple.1 No noisy frequenter lie of baths, presenting
his armpits to be cleared of hair, and with only an oil-
flask to conceal his nudity. He will hand you a wine
that was bottled on the hills among which he was
born, and beneath whose tops he played — for wine
and servant alike have one and the same father-
land.
162 You may look perhaps for a troop of Spanish
maidens to win applause by immodest dance and
song, sinking down with quivering thighs to the
floor — such sights as brides behold seated beside
their husbands, though it were a shame to speak of
such things in their presence. . . . My humble home
has no place for follies such as these. The clatter
of castanets, words too foul for the strumpet that
stands naked in a reeking archway, with all the arts
and language of lust, may be left to him who spits
wine upon floors of Lacedaemonian marble ; such
men we pardon because of their high station. In
men of moderate position gaming and adultery are
shameful ; but when those others do these same
things, they are called gay fellows and fine gentle-
men. My feast to-day will provide other perform-
ances than these. The bard of the Iliad will be
sung, and the lays of the lofty-toned Maro that
contest the palm with his. What matters it with
what voice strains like these are read ?
1 Referring to the purple stripe on the toga praetexta worn
by all free-born boys.
233
IVVENALIS SATVRA XI
Sed nunc dilatis averte negotia curis
et gratam requiem dona tibi, quando licebit
per totum cessare diem, non faenoris ulla 185
mentio nee, prima si luce egressa reverti
nocte solet, tacito bilem tibi contrahat uxor
umida suspectis referens multicia rugis
vexatasque comas et vultum auremque calentem.
protinus ante meum quidquid dolet exue limen, 190
pone domum et servos et quidquid frangitur illis
aut perit, ingratos ante omnia pone sodales.
Interea Megalesiacae spectacula mappae
Idaeum sollemne colunt, similisque triumpho
praeda caballorum praetor sedet, ac mihi pace 195
inmensae nimiaeque licet si dicere plebis,
totam liodie Romam circus capit, et fragor aurem
percutit, eventum viridis quo colligo panni.
nam si deficeret, maestam attonitamque videres
banc urbem veluti Cannarum in pulvere victis 200
consulibus. spectent iuvenes., quos clamor et audax
sponsio, quos cultae decet assedisse puellae :
nostra bibat vernum contracta cuticula solem
effugiatque togam. iam nunc in balnea salva
fronte licet vadas, quamquam solida bora super-
sit 205
ad sextam. facere boc non possis quinque diebus
continues, quia sunt talis quoque taedia vitae
magna : voluptates commendat rarior usus.
~i~The Megalesian games (April 4-10) were held in honour
of Cybele (^yd\v /utjttjp) ; the praetor gave the signal for
starting the chariot-race by dropping a napkin.
2 There were four factions in the Circus, consisting of the
supporters of the four charioteering colours, White, Red,
234
JUVENAL, SATIRE XI
183 And now put away cares and cast business
to the winds ! Present yourself with a welcome
holiday, now that you may be idle for the entire
day. Let there be no talk of money, and let there
be no secret wrath or suspicion in your heart because
your wife is wont to go forth at dawn and to come
home at night with crumpled hair and flushed face
and eai's. Cast off straightway before my threshold
all that troubles you, all thought of house and slaves,
with all that slaves break or lose, and above all put
away all thought of thankless friends.
193 Meantime the solemn Idaean rite of the
Megalesian napkin x is being held ; there sits the
Praetor in his triumphal state, the prey of horse-
flesh ; and (if I may say so without offence to the
vast unnumbered mob) all Rome to-day is in the
Circus. A roar strikes upon my ear which tells me
that the Green 2 has won ; for had it lost, Rome
would be as sad and dismayed as when the
Consuls were vanquished in the dust of Cannae.
Such sights are for the young, whom it befits to
shout and make bold wagers with a smart damsel
by their side : but let my shrivelled skin drink in
the vernal sun, and escape the toga. You may go
at once to your bath with no shame on your
brow, though it wants a whole hour of mid-day.3
That you could not do for five days continuously,
since even such a life has weariness. It is rarity
that gives zest to pleasure.4
Green, and Blue. The Green it seems was the popular colour,
being usually favoured by the emperor.
3 The bath was usually not taken till the eighth hour.
4 This would seem to be almost a translation from
Epictetus (Flor. 6. 59). "The rarest pleasures give most
delight."
235
IVVENALIS SATVRA XII
SATVRA XII
Natali, Corvine, die mihi dulcior haec lux^,
qua festus promissa deis animalia caespes
expectat. niveam reginae ducimus agnam,
par vellus dabitur pugnanti Gorgone Maura ;
sed procul extensum petulans quatit hostia funem 5
Tarpeio servata Iovi frontemque coruscat,
quippe ferox vitulus tempi is maturus et arae
spargendusque mero, quem iam pudet ubera matris
ducere, qui vexat nascenti robora cornu.
si res ampla domi similisque adfectibus esset, 10
pinguior Hispulla traheretur taurus et ipsa
mole piger nee finitima nutritus in herba,
laeta sed ostendens Clitumni pascua sanguis
iret et a grandi cervix ferienda ministro
ob reditum trepidantis adhuc horrendaque passi 15
nuper et incolumem sese mirantis amici.
Nam praeter pelagi casus et fulminis ictus
evasit : densae caelum abscondere tenebrae
nube una subitusque antemnas inpulit ignis,
cum se quisque illo percussum crederet et mox 20
attonitus nullum conferri posse putaret
naufragium velis ardentibus. omnia fiunt
talia, tarn graviter, si quando poetica surgit
tempestas. genus ecce aliud discriminis audi
1 Pallas.
2 The Gorgon (or Gorgons) were supposed to belong to
Libya.
236
JUVENAL, SATIRE XII
SATIRE XII
How Catullus escaped Shipwreck
Dearer to me, Corvinus, is this day, when mv
festal turf is awaiting the victims vowed to the Gods,
than my own birthday. To the Queen of Heaven I
offer a snow-white lamb ; a fleece as white to the
Goddess1 armed Avith the Moorish2 Gorgon; hard by
is the frolicsome victim destined for Tarpeian Jove,
shaking the tight-stretched rope and brandishing his
brow ; for he is a bold young steer, ripe for temple
and for altar, and fit to be sprinkled with wine ; it
already shames him to suck his mother's milk, and
with his budding horn he assails the oaks. Were my
fortune large, and as ample as my love, I should have
been hauling along a bull fatter than Hispulla, slow-
footed from his very bulk ; reared on no neighbour-
ing herbage he, but showing in his blood the rich
pastures of the Clitumnus,3 and marching along to
to offer his neck to the stroke of the stalwart priest,
to celebrate the return of my still trembling friend
who has lately gone through such terrors, and now
marvels to find himself safe and sound.
17 For besides the perils of the deep he escaped
a lightning stroke. A mass of dense black cloud
shut out the heavens, and down came a flash of fire
upon the yards. Every man believed himself
smitten by the bolt, and soon in his terror be-
thought him that no shipwreck could be so terrible
as a ship on fire. All happened in the same way and
as frightfully as when a storm arises in a poem,
when lo ! a new kind of peril came : hear it and give
8 Famed for their breed of white cattle.
237
IVVENALIS SATVRA XII
et miserere iterum, quamquam sint cetera sortis 25
eiusdem pars dira quidem,, sed cognita multis
et quam votiva testantur fana tabella
plurima ; pictores quis nescit ab Iside pasci ?
Accidit et nostro similis fortuna Catullo.
cum plenus fluctu medius foret alveus et iam, 30
alternum puppis latus evertentibus undis,
arbori1 incertae, nullam prudentia cani
rectoris cum ferret opem, decidere iactu
coepit cum ventis, imitatus castora,, qui se
eunuchum ipse facit cupiens evadere damno 35
testiculi ; adeo medicatum intellegit inguen.
" fundite quae mea sunt/' dicebat " cuncta " Catullus,
praecipitare volens etiam pulcherrima, vestem
purpuream teneris quoque Maecenatibus aptam,
atque alias quarum generosi graminis ipsum 40
infecit natura pecus, sed et egregius fons
viribus occultis et Baeticus adiuvat aer.
ille nee argentum dubitabat mittere, lances
Parthenio factas, urnae cratera capacem
et dignum sitiente Pholo vel coniuge Fusci ; 45
adde et bascaudas et mille escaria, multum
caelati, biberat quo callidus 2 emptor Olynthi.
sed quis nunc alius qua mundi parte, quis audet
argento praeferre caput rebusque salutem ?
[non propter vitam faciunt patrimonia quidam, 50
sed vitio caeci propter patrimonia vivunt.]
1 arbori is Lachmann's conj. for the arboris of the MSS.
3 callidus if : pallidas PA.
1 i.e. by employing them to paint votive tablets for her
e'"Bae'tica was one of the provinces of Spain, called after
the Baetis (Guadal quiver). The wool was famed for ita
golden colour.
238
JUVENAL, SATIRE XII
your pity once again, though the rest of the tale is all
of one piece : a fearful lot, well known to many, and
testified by many a votive tablet in our temples. Who
knows not that it is Isis who feeds our painters ? 1
29 A fate like to these befell our friend Catullus
also. For when the hold was half full of water, and
the waves rocked the hull from side to side, so that
the white-haired skipper, with all his skill, could
bring no succour to the labouring mast, he resolved
to compound with the winds like the beaver, who
gives up one part of his body that he may keep
the rest ; so conscious is he of the drug which he
carries in his groin. " Overboard with everything ! "
shouted Catullus, ready to cast headlong his finest
wares : purple garments, such as would have befitted
a soft Maecenas, with other fabrics dyed on the
sheep's back by the noble nature of the herbage
— though doubtless the hidden virtues of the water
and air of Baetica 2 also lent their aid. Nor did he
hesitate to throw over pieces of silver plate-
chargers wrought by Parthenius,3 and bowls holding
three gallons, fit to slake the thirst of the Centaur
Pholus4 or the wife of Fuscus. Besides these were
baskets and dishes without number, and much chased
work out of which the crafty purchaser of Olynthus 5
had slaked his thirst. What other man is there, in
what part of the world, who would dare to value his
life above his plate, or his safety above his property ?
Some men are so blinded and depraved that, instead
of making fortunes for the sake of living, they live
for their fortunes' sake.
3 An engraver, otherwise unknown.
1 The Centaurs were famed for their drinking capacity.
3 Philip of Macedon.
239
IVVENALIS SATVRA XII
Iactatur rerum utilium pars maxima, sed nee
damna levant, tunc adversis urguentibus illuc
reccidit ut malum ferro summitteret ; ac se
explicat angustum : discriminis ultima, quando 55
praesidia adferimus navem factura minorem.
i nunc et ventis animam committe dolato
confisus ligno, digitis a morte remotus
quattuor aut septem, si sit latissima, taedae ;
mox cum reticulis et pane et ventre lagonae, GO
aspice 1 sumendas in tempestate secures.
Sed postquam iacuit planum mare, tempora
postquam
prospera vectoris fatumque valentius Euro
et pelago, postquam Parcae meliora benigna
pensa manu ducunt hilares et staminis albi 65
lanificae, modica nee multum fortior aura
ventus adest, inopi miserabilis arte cucurrit
vestibus extentis et quod superaverat unum
velo prora suo. iam deficientibus Austris
spes vitae cum sole redit. tunc gratus Iulo 70
atque novercali sedes praelata Lavino
conspicitur sublimis apex, cui Candida nomen
scrofa dedit, laetis Phrygibus mirabile sumen,
et numquam visis triginta clara mamillis.
Tandem intrat positas inclusa per aequora moles 75
Tyrrhenamque pharon porrectaque brachia rursum
quae pelago occurrunt medio longeque relinquunt
Italiam ; non sic igitur mirabere portus
1 aspice Pif/ : accipe Housm.: respke Iahn.
1 The Alban Mount.
240
JUVENAL, SATIRE XII
52 And now most of the cargo has gone overboard,
but even these losses do not ease the vessel ; so in
his extremity the skipper had to fall back upon
cutting away the mast, and so find a way out of his
straits — a dire pass indeed when no remedy can be
found but one that diminishes the ship ! Go now, and
commit your life to the winds ! Go trust yourself to
a hewn plank which parts you from death by four
finger-breadths, or seven if it be extra thick ! Only
remember in future, besides your bread and your
bread-basket and your pot-bellied flagon, to take
with you axes also for use in time of storm.
62 But soon the sea fell flat, and our mariners
came on better times. Destiny proved stronger than
wind and wave ; the glad Fates, with kindly hand,
spun a yarn of white wool, there sprang up what
was no stronger than a gentle breeze, under which
the poor ship sped on by the sorry help of out-
stretched garments, and the single sail now left to
her on her prow. Soon the winds abated, and out
came the sun, bringing hope of life ; and then there
came into view the beetling height 1 so dear to lulus,
and preferred by him for his abode to his step-
mother's Lavinum, a height that took its name from
the white sow whose wondrous womb made glad the
Phrygians' hearts, and gained fame for her thirty
teats — a sight never seen before !
75 And now at length the ship comes within the
moles built out to enclose the sea.2 She passes the
Tyrrhenian Pharos, and those arms which stretch
out and meet again in mid-ocean, leaving Italy far
behind — a port more wondrous far than those of
2 The port of Ostia, built by Claudius and called Portus
Augusti,
241
IVVENALIS SATVRA XII
quos natura dedit. sed trunca puppe magister
interiora petit, Baianae pervia cumbae, 80
tuti stagna sinus, gaudent ibi vertice raso
garrula securi nan-are pericula nautae.
Ite igitur, pueri, linguis anirnisque faventes
sertaque delubris et farra inponite cultris
ac mollis ornate focos glaebamque virentem. 85
iam sequar et saero, quod praestat, rite peracto
inde domum repetam, graciles ubi parva coronas
accipiunt fragili simulacra nitentia cera.
hie nostrum placabo Iovem Laribusque paternis
tura dabo atque omnis violae iactabo colores. 90
cuncta nitent, longos erexit ianua ramos
et matutinis operatur festa lucernis.
Nee suspecta tibi sint haec, Corvine : Catullus,
pro cuius reditu tot pono altaria, parvos
tres habet heredes. libet expectare quis aegram 95
et claudentem oculos gallinam inpendat amico
tarn sterili ; verum haec nimia est inpensa : coturnix
nulla umquam pro patre cadet, sentire calorem
si coepit locuples Gallitta et Pacius orbi,
legitime fixis vestitur tota libellis 100
porticus, existunt qui promittant hecatomben,
quatenus hie non sunt nee venales elephanti,
nee Latio aut usquam sub nostro sidere talis
belua concipitur, sed furva gente petita
arboribus Rutulis et Tumi pascitur agro, 105
Caesaris armentum nulli servire paratum
privato, siquidem Tyrio parere solebant
1 In fulfilment, no doubt, of a vow made in the moment of
danger.
2 The emperors kept a herd of elephants for games, etc.,
at Laurentum, near the kingdom of the Rutulian Turnus.
242
JUVENAL, SATIRE XII
Nature's making. Then the skipper, with his
crippled ship, makes for the still waters of the inner
basin in which any Baian shallop may ride in safety.
There the sailors shave their heads x and delight, in
garrulous ease, to tell the story of their perils.
83 Away then, ye boys, and with reverent tongues
and souls hang up garlands upon the shrines, sprinkle
meal upon the knives, and deck the soft altars of
verdant turf. I will quickly follow, and having duly
performed the greater rite, will return thence home,
where my little images of shining crumbling wax are
being decked with slender wreaths. Here will I
entreat my own Jupiter ; here will I offer incense
to my paternal Lares, and scatter pansies of every
hue. Here all is bright; the gateway, in token of
feast, has put up trailing branches, and is worshipping
with early-lighted lamps.
93 Look not askance, Corvinus, upon these rejoic-
ings. The Catullus for whose return I set up all
these altars has three little heirs of his own. You
may wait long enough before you find anyone to
bestow a sickly hen, just closing her eyes, upon so
unprofitable a friend ; nay, a hen would be all too
costly : no quail will ever fall for a man who is
a father ! But if the rich and childless Gallitta or
Pacius have a touch of fever, their entire porticoes
will be dressed out with tablets fastened in due form;
there will be some to vow hecatombs, not elephants,
indeed, seeing that elephants are not for sale, nor does
that beast breed in Latium, or anywhere beneath our
skies, but is fetched from the dark man's land, and
fed in the Rutulian forest and the domains of Turn us.2
The herd is Caesar's,2 and will serve no private
master, since their forefathers were wont to obey the
243
r 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA XII
Hannibali et nostris ducibus regique Molosso
horum maiores ac dorso ferre cohortis,
partem aliquam belli, et euntem in proelia tur-
™ 110
rem. 1 x u
nulla igitur mora per Novium, mora nulla per Histrum
Pacuvium, quin illud ebur dueatur ad aras
et cadat ante Lares Gallittae victima sola
tantis digna deis et captatoribus horum.
alter enim, si coneedas, mactare vovebit 115
de grege servorum magna et pulcberrima quaeque
corpora, vel pueris et frontibus ancillarum
inponet vittas, et siqua est nubilis illi
Iphigenia domi, dabit banc altaribus, etsi
non sperat tragicae furtiva piacula cervae. 1 20
Laudo meum civem, nee comparo testamento
mille rates ; nam si Libitinam evaserit aeger,
delebit tabulas inclusus carcere nassae
post meritum sane mirandum atque omnia soli
forsan Pacuvio breviter dabit, ille superbus 125
incedet victis rivalibus. ergo vides quam
grande operae pretium faciat iugulata Mycenis.
vivat Pacuvius quaeso vel Nestora totum,
possideat quantum rapuit Nero, montibus aurum
exaequet, nee amet quemquam nee ametur ab
ullo. 13°
1 Pyrrhus. 2 Legacy-hunters.
3 Sacrificed by her father Agamemnon to procure a fair
wind for the Greek fleet.
244
JUVENAL, SATIRE XII
Tyrian Hannibal and our generals and the Molos-
sian king,1 and to carry cohorts on their backs — no
small fraction of a war — whole towers going forth to
battle ! Therefore Novius2 would not hesitate, Pacu-
vius Hister2 would not hesitate, to lead that ivoried
monster to the altar, and offer it to Gallitta's Lares,
the only victim worthy of such august divinities, and
of those who hunt their gold. For the latter worthy,
if permitted, will vow to sacrifice the tallest and
comeliest of his slaves ; he will place fillets on the
brows of his slave-boys and maidservants ; if he has
a marriageable Iphigenia3 at home, he will place
her upon the altar, though he could never hope for
the hind of tragic story to provide a secret sub-
stitute.4
121 I commend the wisdom of my fellow townsman,
nor can I compare a thousand ships to an inherit-
ance ; for if the sick man escape the Goddess of
Death, he will be caught Avithin the net, he will
destroy his will, and after the prodigious services of
Pacuvius will maybe by a single word, make him
heir to all his possessions, and Pacuvius will strut
proudly over his vanquished rivals. You see there-
fore how well worth while it was to slaughter that
maiden at Mycenae ! Long live Pacuvius ! may he
live, I pray, as many years as Nestor ; may he possess
as much as Nero plundered ; may he pile up gold
mountain-high ; may he love no one, and be by none
beloved !
4 Later tradition pretended that a hind had been sub-
stituted for Iphigenia.
245
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIII
SATVRA XIII
Exemi'Lo quodcumque malo committitur, ipsi
displicet auctori : prima est haec ultio, quod se
iudice nemo nocens absolvitur, improba quamvis
gratia fallaci praetoris vicerit urna.
quid sentire putas omnes, Calvine, recenti 5
de seelere et fidei violatae crimine ? sed nee
tarn tenuis census tibi contigit, ut mediocris
iacturae te mergat onus, nee rara videmus
quae pateris ; casus multis hie cognitus ac iam
tritus et e medio fortunae ductus acervo. 10
ponamus nimios gemitus. fiagrantior aequo
non debet dolor esse viri nee vulnere maior.
tu quamvis levium minimam exiguamque malorum
particulam vix ferre potes spumantibus ardens
visceribus, sacrum tibi quod non reddat amicus 15
depositum ; stupet haec qui iam post terga reliquit
sexasrinta annos Fonteio consule natus ?
an nihil in melius tot rerum proficis 1 usu r
Magna quidem, sacris quae dat praecepta libellis,
victrix fortunae sapientia ; ducimus autem 20
hos quoque felices, qui ferre incommoda vitae
nee iactare iugum vita didicere magistra.
quae tarn festa dies, ut cesset prodere furem,
perfidiam, fraudes atque omni ex crimine lucrum
quaesitum et pai-tos gladio vel pyxide nummos ? 25
1 prqficit P : proficis ^ and Housm.
1 C. Fonteius Capito, consul ad. 67. That fixes the date
of this Satire to the year a.d. 127.
246
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIII
SATIRE XIII
The Terrors of a Guilty Conscience
No deed that sets an example of evil brings joy
to the doer of it. The first punishment is this : that
no guilty man is acquitted at the bar of his own
conscience, though he have won his cause by a
juggling urn, and the corrupt favour of the judge.
What do you suppose, Calvinus, that people are now
thinking about the recent villainy and the charge of
trust betrayed ? Your means are not so small that
the weight of a slight loss will weigh you down ;
nor is your misfortune rare. Such a mishap has been
known to many ; it is one of the common kind,
plucked at random out of Fortune's heap. Away
with undue lamentations ! a man's wrath should not
be hotter than is fit, nor greater than the loss sus-
tained. You are scarce able to bear the very
smallest particle of misfortune ; your bowels foam
hot within you because your friend will not give up
to you the sacred trust committed to him ; does this
amaze one who was born in the Consulship of Fon-
teius,1 and has left sixty years behind him ? Have
you gained nothing from all your experience ?
19 Great indeed is Philosophy, the conqueror of
Fortune, and sacred are her precepts ; but they too
are to be deemed happy who have learnt under the
schooling of life to endure its ills without fretting
against the yoke. What day is there, however festal,
which fails to disclose theft, treachery and fraud :
gain made out of every kind of crime, and money
won by the dagger or the bowl ? 2 For honest men
2 Pyxis is any bowl made of boxwood.
247
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIII
rati quippe boni : numera, vix sunt totidem quot
Thebarum portae vel divitis ostia Nili.
nona 1 aetas agitur peioraque saecula ferri
temporibus, quorum sceleri non invenit ipsa
nomen et a nullo posuit natura metallo. 30
nos hominum divumque fidem clamore ciemus
quanto Faesidium laudat vocalis agentem
sportula. die, senior bulla dignissime, nescis
quas habeat veneres aliena pecunia ? nescis
quern tua simplicitas risum vulgo moveat, cum 35
exigis a quoquam ne peieret et putet ullis
esse aliquod numen templis araeque rubenti ?
quondam hoc indigenae vivebant more, priusquam
sumeret agrestem posito diademate falcem
Saturnus fugiens, tunc cum virguncula Iuno 40
et privatus adhuc Idaeis Iuppiter antris ;
nulla super nubes convivia caelicolarum,
nee puer Iliacus formosa nee Herculis uxor
ad cyathos, et iam siccato nectare tergens
bracchia Vulcanus Liparaea nigra taberna. 45
prandebat sibi quisque deus, nee turba deorum
talis ut est hodie, contentaque sidera paucis
numinibus miserum urguebant Atlanta minori
pondere, nondum aliquis 2 sortitus triste profundi
1 nona. So \f> and Housm.: non FGr : PBiicli. and Owen
have the unmeaning nunc.
2 aliquis is read by i^, but omitted by P. Housm. conj.
imi. See Journal of Phil. No. 67, p. 42.
1 Thebes had seven gates, the Nile seven mouths.
a The dole {sportula) is called " vocal " because it secures
to the patron the applause of his client when he pleads in
court.
248
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIII
are scarce ; hardly so numerous as the gates of
Thebes, or the mouths of the enriching Nile.1 We
are living in a ninth age ; an age more evil than that
of iron — one for whose wickedness Nature herself
can find no name, no metal from which to call it.
We summon Gods and men to our aid with cries as
loud as that with which the vocal dole2 applauds
Faesidius when he pleads. Tell me, you old gentle-
man, that should be wearing the bulla 3 of childhood,
do you know nothing of the charm of other people's
money ? Are you ignorant of how the world laughs
at your simplicity when you demand of any man
that he shall not perjure himself, and believe that
some divinity is to be found in temples or in altars
red with blood? Primitive men lived thus in the
olden days, before Saturn laid down his diadem and
fled, betaking himself to the rustic sickle ; in the
days when Juno was a little maid, and Jupiter still
a private gentleman in the caves of Ida.4 In those
days there were no banquets of the heavenly host
above the clouds, there was no Trojan youth, no fair
wife of Hercules5 for cup-bearer, no Vulcan wiping
arms begrimed by the Liparaean6 forge after tossing
off his nectar. Each God then dined by himself ;
there was no such mob of deities as there is to-day ;
the stars were satisfied with a few divinities, and
pressed with a lighter load upon the hapless Atlas.
No monarch had as yet had the gloomy realms below
allotted to him ; there was no grim Pluto with a
3 The bulla was a case of gold containing an amulet against
the evil ej'e, worn by all free-born boys until they put on the
toga virilis.
4 Mount Ida in Crete where Zeus was born. B Hebe.
6 Lipari, the group of islands elsewhere called Aeolian
(i. 7)> where Vulcan's forge was placed.
249
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIII
impei-iunx, aut Sicula torvos cum coniuge Pluton, 50
nee rota nee Furiae nee saxum aut vulturis atri
poena, sed infernis hilares sine regibus umbrae,
inprobitas illo fuit admirabilis aevo,
credebant quo grande nefas et morte piandum,
si iuvenis vetulo non adsurrexerat et si 55
barbato cuicumque puer, licet ipse videret
plura domi fraga et maiores glandis acervos ;
tam venerabile erat praecedere quattuor annis,
primaque par adeo sacrae lanugo senectae.
Nunc si depositum non infitietur amicus, 60
si reddat veterem cum tota aerugine follem,
prodigiosa fides et Tuscis digna libellis,
quaeque coronata lustrari debeat agna.
egregium sanctumque virum si cerno, bimembri
hoc monstrum puero et miranti J sub aratro 65
piscibus inventis et fetae comparo mulae,
sollicituSj tamquam lapides effuderit imber
examenque apium longa consederit uva
culmine delubri, tamquam in mare fluxerit amnis
gurgitibus miris et lactis vertice torrens. 70
Intercepta decern quereris sestertia fraude
sacrilega. quid si bis centum perdidit alter
hoc arcana modo ? maiorem tertius ilia
summam, quam patulae vix ceperat angulus arcae ?
tam facile et pronum est superos contemnere
testes, 75
si mortalis idem nemo sciat ! aspice quanta
voce neget, quae sit ficti constantia vultus :
per Solis radios Tarpeiaque fulmina iurat
1 So \p and Housm. : Biich. follows the mirandis of P.
1 The wheel of Ixion. 2 The stone of Sisyphus.
3 Tityus was preyed upon by a vulture.
250
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIII
Sicilian spouse; there was no wheel,1 no rock,2 no
Furies, no black torturing Vulture ; 3 the shades led
a merry life, with no kings over their nether world.
Dishonesty was a prodigy in those days ; men
deemed it a heinous sin, worthy of death, if a youth
did not rise before his elders, or a boy before any
bearded man, though he himself might see more
strawberries, and bigger heaps of acorns, in his own
home. So worshipful was it to be older by four
years, so equal to reverend age was the first down of
manhood !
60 But nowadays, if a friend does not disavow a
sum entrusted to him, if he restore the old purse
with all its rust, his good faith is deemed a portent
calling for the sacred books of Etruria, and to be
expiated by a lamb decked with garlands. If I dis-
cover an upright and blameless man, I liken him to
a boy born with double limbs, or to fishes found by a
marvelling rustic under the plough, or to a pregnant
mule : I am as concerned as though it had rained
stones, or a swarm of bees had settled in a long
cluster on a temple-roof, or as though some river had
poured down wondrous floods of milk into the sea.
71 You complain, do you, that by an impious fraud
you have been robbed of ten thousand sesterces ?
What if someone else has by a like fraud lost a secret
deposit of two hundred thousand sesterces ? A third
a still greater sum, which could scarce find room in
the corners of his ample treasure-chest ? So simple
and easy a thing is it to disregard heavenly witnesses,
if no mortal man is privy to the secret ! Hear
how loudly the fellow denies the charge ! See
the assurance of his perfidious face ! He swears
by the rays of the sun and the Tarpeian thunder-
251
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIII
et Martis frameam et Cirrhaei spicula vatis,
per calamos venatricis pharetramque puellae 80
perque tuum, pater Aegaei Neptune, tridentem ;
addit et Herculeos areus hastamque Minervae,
quidquid habent telorum armamentaria caeli.
si vero et pater est, " comedam/' inquit flebile, " nati
sinciput elixi Pharioque madentis aceto." 85
Sunt in fortunae qui casibus omnia ponant
et nullo credant mundum rectore moveri
natura volvente vices et lucis et anni,
atque ideo intrepidi quaecumque altaria tangunt.
est alius metuens ne crimen poena sequatur ; 90
hie putat esse deos et peierat, atque ita secum :
" decernat quodcumque volet de corpore nostro
Isis et irato feriat mea lumina sistro,
dummodo vel caecus teneam quos abnego nummos.
et phthisis et vomicae putres et dimidium crus 95
sunt tanti. pauper locupletem optare podagram
nee dubitet Ladas, si non eget Anticyra nee
Archigene ; quid enim velocis gloria plantae
praestat et esuriens Pisaeae ramus olivae ?
ut sit magna, tamen certe lenta ira deorum est ; 100
si curant igitur cunctos punire nocentes,
quando ad me venient ? sed et exorabile numen
fortasse experiar, solet his ignoscere. multi
committunt eadem diverso crimina fato :
ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit, hie diadema." 105
1 A famous Greek runner.
2 An island on which hellebore, the remedy for madness,
was grown.
3 An olive-wreath was the prize at the Olympian games.
252
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIII
bolts; by the lance of Mars and the arrows of the
Cirrhaean Seer; by the shafts and quiver of the
maiden huntress, and by thine own trident, O Nep-
tune, thou lord of the Aegaean sea. He throws
in besides the bow of Hercules, and Minerva's spear,
and all the weapons contained in all the armouries
of Heaven; if he be a father, "May I eat," he
tearfully declares, "my own son's head boiled, and
dripping with Egyptian vinegar ! "
80 Some think that all things are subject to the
chances of Fortune ; these believe that the world has
no governor to move it, but that Nature rolls along
the changes of day and year ; they will therefore lay
their hands on any altar you please without a tremor.
Another fears that punishment will follow crime ;
he believes that there are Gods, but perjures him-
self all the same, reasoning thus within himself:
" Let Isis deal with my body as she wills, and blast
my sight with her avenging rattle, provided only
that even when blind I may keep the money which
I disavow ; it is worth having phthisis or running
ulcers or losing half one's leg at the price ! Ladas J
himself, if not needing treatment at Anticyra 2 or
by Archigenes, would not hesitate to accept the rich
man's gout ; for what is to be got out of fame for
swiftness of foot, or from a hungry branch of the
Pisaean Olive3? The wrath of the Gods may be
great, but it assuredly is slow ; if then they charge
themselves with punishing all the guilty, when will
they get my length ? And besides I may perchance
find the God placable ; he is wont to forgive things
like this. Many commit the same crime and fare
differently : one man gets a gibbet, another a crown,
as the reward of crime."
253
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIII
Sic animum dirae trepidum formidine culpae
eonfirmat, tunc te sacra ad delubra vocantem
pvaecedit, trahere imrao ultro ac vexare paratus.
nam cum magna malae superest audacia causae,
credituT a multis fiducia. mimum agit ille, 110
urbani qualem fugitivus scurra Catulli :
tu miser exclamas, ut Stentora vincere possis,
vel potius quantum Gradivus Homericus : " audis,
Iuppiter, haec, nee labra moves, cum mittere vocem
debueris vel marmoreus vel aeneus? aut cur 115
in carbone tuo charta pia tura soluta
ponimus et sectum vituli iecur albaque porci
omenta ? ut video, nullum discrimen habendum est
effigies inter vestras statuamque Vagelli."
Accipe quae contra valeat solacia ferre 120
et qui nee cynicos nee stoica dogmata legit
a cynicis tunica distantia, non Epicurum
suspicit exigui laetum plantaribus borti.
curentur dubii medicis maioribus aegri :
tu venam vel discipulo committe Philippi. 125
si nullum in terris tarn detestabile factum
ostendis, taceo, nee pugnis caedere pectus
te veto nee plana faciem contundere pal ma,
quandoquidem accepto claudenda est ianua damno,
et maiore domus gemitu, maiore tumultu 130
planguntur nummi quam funera. nemo dolorem
fingit in hoc casu, vestem diducere summam
» See viii. 186. 2 See Horn. II. v. 785.
3 The Cynics discarded the tunic.
* Some inferior doctor ; unknown.
2 54
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIII
106 That is how they reassure their minds when in
terror for some deadly guilt. If you summon them
then to the holy shrine, they will be there before
you ; nay, they will themselves drag you thither, and
dare you to the proof; for when a bad cause is well
backed by a bold face, the man gets credit for self-
confidence. Such a one plays a part, like the runaway
buffoon of the witty Catullus,1 but you, poor wretch,
may shout so as to out-do Stentor,2 or rather as
loudly as the Mars of Homer, " Do you hear all this,
O Jupiter, with lip unmoved, when you ought to
have been making yourself heard, whether you be
made of marble or of bronze ? Else why do I open
my packet of holy incense, and place it on your
blazing altar ? Why offer slices of a calf's liver or
the fat of a white pig ? So far as I can see, there is
nothing to choose between your images and the
statue of Vagellius ! "
120 And now hear what consolations can be offered
on the other side by one who has not embraced the
doctrines either of the Cynics, or of the Stoics — who
only differ from the Cynics by a shirt3 — nor yet
reverenced Epicurus, so proud of the herbs in his tiny
garden. Let doubtful maladies be tended by doctors
of repute ; your veins may be entrusted to a disciple
of Philippus.4 If in all the world you cannot show
me so abominable a crime, I hold my peace ; I will
not forbid you to smite your breast with your fists,
or to pummel your face with open palm, seeing that
after so great a loss you must close your doors, and
that a household bewails the loss of money with
louder lamentations than a death. In such a mis-
fortune no grief is simulated ; no one is content to
rend the top of his garment, or to squeeze forced
255
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIII
contentus, vexare oculos umore coacto :
ploratur lac.rimis amissa pecunia veris.
Sed si cuncta vides simili fora plena querella, 135
si decies lectis diversa parte tabellis
vana supervacui dieunt chirogvapha ligni,
arguit ipsorum quos littera gemmaque princeps
sardonychum, loculis quae custoditur eburnis,
ten, o delicias ! extra communia censes HO
ponendum, quia tu gallinae filius albae,
nos viles pulli, nati infelicibus ovis ?
rem pateris modicam et mediocri bile ferendam,
si flectas oculos maiora ad crimina. confer
conductum latronem, incendia sulpure coepta 145
atque dolo, primos cum ianua colligit ignes ;
confer et hos, veteris qui tollunt grandia templi
pocula adorandae robiginis et populorum
dona vel antiquo positas a rege coronas ;
haec ibi si non sunt, minor exstat sacrilegus qui 150
radat inaurati femur Herculis et faciem ipsam
Neptuni, qui bratteolam de Castore ducat ;
an dubitet solitus totum conflare Tonantem ?
confer et artifices mercatoremque veneni,
et deducendum corio bovis in mare, cum quo 155
clauditur adversis innoxia simia fatis.
haec quota pars scelerum, quae custos Gallicus urbis
usque alucifero donee lux occidat audit ?
humani generis mores tibi nosse volenti
sufficit una domus : paucos consume dies et 160
dicere te miserum, postquam illinc veneris, aude.
» See note on viii. 214.
256
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIII
moisture from his eyes ; unfeigned are the tears
which lament the loss of wealth.
135 But if you see every court beset with complaints
like to yours ; if after a bond has been read over ten
times by the opposing party, they declare the docu-
ment to be waste paper, though convicted by their
own handwriting, and by the signet ring, most choice
of sardonyx stones, kept in an ivory case — do you,
my fine fellow, suppose that_you are to be placed
outside the common lot, because you were born of a
white hen, while we are common chickens, hatched
out of unlucky eggs ? Your loss is a modest one, to
be endured with a moderate amount of choler, if you
cast an eye on grosser wrongs. Compare with your
case the hired robber, or the fire purposely stai-ted
by sulphur, the flame bursting out at your front door;
think too of those who carry off from ancient temples
splendid cups of venerable antiquity, that were the
gift of nations, or crowns dedicated by some ancient
monarch ! If such things are not to be had, a petty
desecrator will be found to scrape off the gilding from
the thigh of Hercules, or from the very face of Nep-
tune, or to strip Castor of his beaten gold. And why
should he hesitate, Avhen he has been used to melt
down an entire Thunderer ? Compare too the manu-
facturers and sellers of poison, and the man who
should be cast into the sea inside an ox's hide, with
whom a luckless destiny encloses a harmless ape.1
What a mere fraction these of the crimes which Galli-
cus,2 the guardian of our city, has to listen to from
dawn to eve ! If you would know what mankind is
like, that one court-house will suffice ; spend a few
days in it, and when you come out, dare to call yourself
8 Rutilius Gallicus, prefect of the city under Domitian.
257
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIII
quis tumidum guttur miratur in Alpibus, aut quis
in Meroe crasso maiorem infante mamillam ?
caerula quis stupuit Germani lumina, flavam
caesariem et madido torquentem cornua cirro ? 165
[nempe quod haec illis natura est omnibus una.]
ad subitas Thracum volucres nubemque sonoram
Pygmaeus parvis currit bellator in armis,
mox inpar hosti raptusque per aera curvis
unguibus a saeva fertur grue. si videas hoc 170
gentibus in nostris, risu quatiare ; sed illic,
quamquam eadem adsidue spectentur proelia, ridet
nemo, ubi tota cohors pede non est altior uno.
" Nullane peiuri capitis fraudisque nefandae
poena erit ? " abreptum crede hunc graviore
1 7^
catena ± ' °
protinus et nostro (quid plus velit ira ?) necari
arbitrio : manet ilia tamen iactura, nee umquam
depositum tibi sospes erit, sed corpore t runco
invidiosa dabit minimus x solacia sanguis.
"at vindicta bonum vita iucundius ipsa." 180
nempe hoc indocti, quorum praecordia nullis
interdum aut levibus videas flagrantia causis ;
quantulacumque adeo est occasio sufficit irae.
Chrysippus non dicet idem nee mite Thaletis
ingenium dulcique senex vicinus Hymetto, 185
qui partem acceptae saeva inter vincla cicutae
accusatori nollet dare, plurima felix
paulatim vitia atque errores exuit omnes,
1 minimus PiJ/ : Housm. conj. solum.
» An island in Upper Egypt formed by two branches of the
Nile. , . . ,
* Legends of battles between cranes and pygmies are iound
in Homer {11. iii- 3-6), Aristotle, and elsewhere.
3 The great Stoic philosopher, B.C. 289-2U7.
258
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIII
unfortunate. Who marvels at a swollen throat in the
Alps ? or in Meroe ! at a woman's breast bigger than
her sturdy babe ? Who is amazed to see a German
with blue eyes and yellow hair, twisting his greasy
curls into a horn ? We marvel not, clearly because
this one nature is common to them all. The Pygmy
warrior marches forth in his tiny arms to encounter the
sudden swoop and clamorous cloud of Thracian birds ;
but soon, no match for his foe, he is snatched up
by the savage crane and borne in his crooked talons
through the air.2 If you saw this in our own country,
you would shake with laughter; but in that land,
where the whole host is only one foot high, though
like battles are witnessed every day, no one laughs !
174 c( What ? Is there to be no punishment for
that perjured soul and his impious fraud?" Well,
suppose him to have been hurried off in heavy
chains, and slain (what more could anger ask?) at
our good pleasure ; yet your loss still remains, your
deposit will not be saved ; and the smallest drop of
blood from that headless body will bring you hatred
along with your consolation. " O ! but vengeance
is good, sweeter than life itself." Yes ; so say the
ignorant, whose passionate hearts you may see ablaze
at the slightest cause, sometimes for no cause at all ;
any occasion, indeed, however small it be, suffices for
their wrath. But so will not Chrysippus 3 say, or the
gentle Thales,4 or the old man 6 who dwelt near sweet
Hymettus, who would have given to his accuser no
drop of the hemlock-draught which was administered
to him in that cruel bondage. Benign Philosophy,
by degrees, strips from us most of our vices, and all
* The Ionic philosopher of Miletus, about B.C. 636-546
4 Socrates.
2
s 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIII
prima docet rectum sapientia. quippe minuti
semper et infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas 190
ultio. continuo sic collige, quod vindicta
nemo magis gaudet quam femina.
Cur tamen hos tu
evasisse putes, quos diri conscia facti
mens habet attonitos et surdo verbere caedit
occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum? 195
poena autem vehemens ac multo saevior illis
quas et Caedicius gravis invenit et Rhadamanthus,
nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem.
Spartano cuidam respondit Pythia vates
haut inpunitum quondam fore quod dubitaret 200
depositum retinere et fraudem hire tueri
iurando ; quaerebat enim quae numinis esset
mens et an hoc illi facinus suaderet Apollo.
reddidit ergo metn, non moribus ; et tamen omnem
vocem adyti dignam templo veramque probavit 205
extinctus tota pariter cum prole domoque,
et quamvis longa deductis gente propinquis.
has patitur poenas peccandi sola voluntas.
nam scelus intra se taciturn qui cogitat ullum,
facti crimen habet.
Cedo si conata peregit : 210
perpetua anxietas nee mensae tempore cessat,
faucibus ut morbo siccis interque molares
difficili crescente cibo, sed vina misellus
expuit, Albani veteris pretiosa senectus
displicet ; ostendas melius, densissima ruga 21 5
1 Not known.
260
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIII
our mistakes ; it is she that first teaches us the right.
For vengeance is always the delight of a little, weak,
and petty mind ; of which you may straightway draw
proof from this — that no one so rejoices in vengeance
as a woman.
192 But why should you suppose that a man escapes
punishment whose mind is ever kept in terror by the
consciousness of an evil deed which lashes him with
unheard blows, his own soul ever shaking over him
the unseen whip of toi-ture ? It is a grievous punish-
ment, more cruel far than any devised by the stern
Caedicius1 or by Rhadamanthus, to carry in one's
breast by night and by day one's own accusing wit-
ness. The Pythian prophetess once made answer to
a Spartan that it would not pass unpunished in after
time that he had thought of keeping back a sum en-
trusted to him supporting the wrong by perjury ;
for he asked what was the mind of the Deity, and
whether Apollo counselled him to do the deed. He
therefore restored the money, through fear, and not
from honesty ; nevertheless he found all the words of
the Oracle to be true and worthy of the shrine,
being destroyed with his whole race and family and
relations, however far removed. Such are the penal-
ties endured by the mere wish to sin ; for he who
secretly meditates a crime within his breast has all
the guiltiness of the deed.
210 What then if the purposed deed be done ? His
disquiet never ceases, not even at the festal board ;
his throat is as dry as in a fever ; he can scarcely
take his food, it swells between his teeth ; he spits
out the wine, poor wretch ; he cannot abide the
choicest old Albanian, and if you bring out some-
thing finer still, wrinkles gather upon his brow as
261
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIII
cogitur in frontem velut acri ducta Falerno.
nocte brevem si forte indulsit cura soporem,
et toto versata toro iam membra quiescunt,
continuo templum et violati numinis aras
et, quod praecipuis mentem sudoribus urguet, 220
te videt in somnis ; tua sacra et maior imago
humana turbat pavidum cogitque fateri.
hi sunt qui trepidant et ad omnia fulgura pal lent,
cum tonat, exanimes primo quoque murmure caeli,
non quasi fortuitus nee ventorum rabie sed 225
iratus cadat in terras et iudicet ignis.
ilia nihil nocuit, cura graviore timetur
proxima tempestas velut hoc dilata sereno.
praeterea lateris vigili cum febre dolorem
si coepere pati, missum ad sua corpora morbum 230
infesto credunt a numine, saxa deorum
haec et tela putant. pecudem spondere sacello
balantem et Laribus cristam promittere galli
non audent ; quid enim sperare nocentibus aegris
concessum ? vel quae non dignior hostia vita ? 235
mobilis et varia est ferme natura malorum :
cum scelus admittunt, superest constantia ; quod fas
atque nefas, tandem incipiunt sentire peractis
criminibus. tamen ad mores natura recurrit
damnatos fixa et mutari nescia. nam quis 240
peccandi finem posuit sibi ? quando recepit
eiectum semel attrita de fronte ruborem ?
quisnam hominum est quern tu contentum videris uno
262
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIII
though it had been puckered up by some Falernian
turned sour. In the night, if his troubles grant him
a short slumber, and his limbs, after tossing upon
the bed, are sinking into repose, he straightway be-
holds the temple and the altar of the God whom he
has outraged ; and what weighs with chiefest ten-or
on his soul, he sees you in his dreams ; your awful
form, larger than life, frightens his quaking heart and
wrings confession from him. These are the men who
tremble and grow pale at every lightning-flash ; when
it thunders, they quail at the first rumbling in the
heavens ; not as though it were an affair of chance
or brought about by the raging of the winds, but as
though the flame had fallen in wrath and as a judg-
ment upon the earth. If one storm pass harmless
by, they look more anxiously for the next, as though
this calm were only a reprieve. If, again, they
suffer from pains in the side, with a fever that robs
them of their sleep, they believe that the sickness has
been inflicted on them by the offended Deity : these
they deem to be the missiles, these the arrows of the
Gods. They dare not vow a bleating victim to a
shrine, or offer a crested cock to the Lares ; for what
hope is permitted to the guilty sick ? What victim
is not more worthy of life than they ? Inconstant
and shifty, for the most part, is the nature of bad
men. In committing a crime, they have courage
enough and to spare ; they only begin to feel what
is right and what wrong when it has been committed.
Yet nature, firm and changeless, returns to the
ways which it has condemned. For who ever fixed a
term to his own offending? When did a hardened
brow ever recover the banished blush ? What man
have you ever seen that was satisfied with one act of
263
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
flagitio ? dabit in laqueum vestigia noster
perfidus et nigri patietur carceris uncum 245
aut maris Aegaei rupem scopulosque frequentes
exulibus magnis. poena gaudebis amara
nominis invisi, tandemque fatebere laetus
nee surdum nee Teresian quemquam esse deorum.
SATVRA XIV
Plurima sunt, Fuscine, et fama digna sinistra
et nitidis maculam haesuram figentia rebus,1
quae monstrant ipsi pueris traduntque parentes.
si damnosa senem iuvat alea, ludit et heres
bullatus parvoque eadem movet arma fritillo. 5
nee melius de se cuiquam sperare propinquo
concede t iuvenis, qui radere tubera terrae,
boletum condire et eodem iure natantis
mergere ficedulas didicit nebulone parente
et cana monstrante gula ; cum septimus annus 10
transient puerum, nondum omni dente renato,
barbatos licet admoveas mille inde magistros,
hinc totidem, cupiet lauto cenare paratu
semper et a magna non degenerare culina.
Mitem animum et mores modicis erroribus
aequos 15
praecipit, atque animas servorum et corpora nostra
materia constare putat paribusque elementis,
1 Biich. (1910) inserts within brackets the following line
found in if< between 1 and 2 : et quod maiorum vitia sequi-
turque minores. AG read vitio for vitia,
264
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIV
villainy ? Our scoundrel will yet put his feet into the
snare ; he will have to endure the dark prison-house
and the staple, or one of those crags in the Aegaean
sea that are crowded with our noble exiles. You will
exult over the stern punishment of a hated name,
and at length admit with joy that none of the Gods
is deaf or like unto Tiresias.1
SATIRE XIV
No Teaching like that of Example
There are many things of ill repute, friend Fusci-
nus, — things that would affix a lasting stain to the
brightest of lives, — which parents themselves point
out and hand on to their sons. If the aged father
delights in ruinous play, his heir too gambles in
his teens, and rattles the selfsame weapons in a tiny
dice-box. If a youth has learnt from the hoary
gluttony of a spendthrift father to peel truffles, to
preserve mushrooms, and to souse beccaficoes in their
own juice, none of his relatives need expect better
things of him when he grows up. As soon as he has
passed his seventh year, before he has cut all his
second teeth, though you put a thousand bearded
preceptors on his right hand, and as many on his
left, he will always long to fare sumptuously, and
not fall below the high standard of "his cookery.
15 When Rutilus delights in the sound of a cruel
flogging, deeming it sweeter than any siren's song,
and being himself a very Antiphates,2 or a Poly-
phemus, to his trembling household, is he inculcating
1 The soothsayer Tiresias was blind.
* A cruel tyrant, king of the Laestrygones.
265
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
an saevire docet Rutilus, qui gaudet acerbo
plagarum strepitu et nullam Sirena flagellis
conparat, Antiphates trepidi laris ac Polyphemus, 20
tunc felix, quotiens aliquis tortore vocato
uritur ardenti duo propter lintea ferro ?
quid suadet iuveni laetus stridore catenae,
quern mire adficiunt inscripta, ergastula, career ?
rusticus expectas ut non sit adultera Largae 25
filia, quae numquam maternos dicere moechos
tarn cito nee tanto poterit contexere cursu,
ut non terdecies respiret ? conscia mati-i
virgo fuit, ceras nunc hac dictante pusillas
implet et ad moechum dat eisdem ferre cinaedis. 30
sic natura iubet : velocius et citius nos
corrumpunt vitiorum exempla domestica, magnis
cum subeant animos auctoribus. unus et alter
forsitan haec spernant iuvenes, quibus arte benigna
et meliore luto finxit praecordia Titan, 35
sed reliquos fugienda patrum vestigia ducunt
et monstrata diu veteris trahit orbita culpae.
Abstineas igitur damnandis. huius enim vel
una potens ratio est, ne crimina nostra sequantui
ex nobis geniti, quoniam dociles imitandis 40
turpibus ac pravis omnes sumus, et Catilinam
quocumque in populo videas, quocumque sub axe,
sed nee Brutus erit Bruti nee avunculus usquam.
nil dictu foedum visuque haec limina tangat,
1 Prometheus, who made mea out of clay.
266
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIV
gentleness, and leniency to slight faults : does he
hold that the bodies and souls of slaves are made of
the same stuff and elements as our own ; or is he
inculcating cruelty, never happy until he has sum-
moned a torturer, and he can brand some one with
a hot iron for stealing a couple of towels? What
counsel does the father give to his son when he
revels in the clanking of a chain, and takes wondrous
pleasure in branded slaves, in prisons and his country
bridewell ? Are you simple enough to suppose that
Larga's daughter will remain virtuous when she
cannot count over her mother's lovers so rapidly, or
string their names together so quickly, as not to
take breath full thirty times ? She was her mother's
confidante as a girl ; at her dictation she now in-
dites her own little love-notes, despatching them to
her paramours by the hand of the self-same menials.
So Nature ordains ; no evil example corrupts us so
soon and so rapidly as one that has been set at home,
since it comes into the mind on high authority.
Here and there perhaps a youth may decline to
follow the bad example : one whose soul the Titan1
has fashioned with kindlier skill and of a finer clay ;
but the rest are led on by the parental steps which
they should avoid, and are dragged into the old
track of vice which has so long been pointed out to
them.
38 Abstain therefore from things which you must
condemn : for this there is at least one all-powerful
motive, that our crimes be not copied by our children.
For we are all of us teachable in what is base and
wrong ; you may find a Catiline among any people,
and in any clime, but nowhere will you find a Brutus,
or the uncle of a Brutus. Let no foul word or sight
267
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
intra quae pater est x ; procul, a procul inde puellae 45
lenonum et cantus pernoctantis parasiti.
maxima debetur puero reverentia, siquid
turpe paras ; nee tu pueri contempseris annos,
sed peccaturo obstet tibi filius infans.
nam siquid dignum censoris fecerit ira 50
quandoque et similem tibi se non corpore tantum
nee vultu dederit, morum quoque filius, et qui
omnia deterius tua per vestigia peccet,
corripies nimirum et castigabis acerbo
clamore ac post haec tabulas mutai'e parabis. 55
unde tibi frontem libertatemque parentis,
cum facias peiora senex vacuumque cerebro
iam pridem caput hoc ventosa cucurbita quaerat ?
Hospite venturo cessabit nemo tuorum.
" verre pavimentum, nitidas ostende columnas, 60
arida cum tota descendat aranea tela ;
hie leve argentum, vasa aspera tergeat alter" :
vox domini furit instantis virgamque tenentis.
ergo miser trepidas, ne stercore foeda canino
atria displiceant oculis venientis amici, 65
ne perfusa luto sit porticus ; et tamen uno
semodio scobis haec emendat servulus unus :
illud non agitas, ut sanctam filius omni
aspiciat sine labe domum vitioque carentem ?
gratum est quod patriae civem populoque dedisti, 70
si facis ut patriae 2 sit idoneus, utilis agris,
utilis et bellorum et pacis rebus agendis.
plurimum enim intererit quibus artibus et quibus
hunc tu
1 est Pi|/ : es Housm. after Cramer.
2 patriae ^ : patria PS : Housm. conj. civis,
268
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIV
cross the threshold within Avhich there is a father.
Away with you, ye hireling damsels ! Away with
the songs of the night-revelling parasite ! If you
have any evil deed in mind, you owe the greatest
reverence to the young ; disregard not your boy's ten-
der years, and let your infant son stand in the way of
the sin that you propose. For if some day or other
he shall do a deed deserving the censor's wrath, and
shall show himself like to you, not in form and face
only, but also your child in vice, and following in all
your footsteps with sin deeper than your own, you
will doubtless rebuke him and chide him angrily
and thereafter prepare to change your will. But how
can you assume the grave brow and the free tone of
a father if you in your old age are doing things
worse than he did, and your own empty pate has
long been needing the -windy cupping-glass?
59 When you expect a guest, not one of your
household will be idle. "Sweep the pavement!
Polish up the pillars ! Down with that dusty spider,
web and all ! One of you clean the plain silver,
another the embossed vessels!" So shouts the
master, standing over them whip in hand. And so you
are afraid, poor fool, that the eyes of your expected
guest may be offended by the sight of dog's filth in
the hall or of a portico splashed with mud — things
which one slave-boy can put right with half a peck
of sawdust : and yet will you take no pains that your
son may behold a stainless home, free from any stain
and blemish? It is good that you have presented
your country and your people with a citizen, if you
make him serviceable to his country, useful for the
land, useful for the things both of peace and war.
For it will make all the difference in what practices,
269
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
moribus instituas. serpente ciconia pullos
nutrit et inventa per devia rura lacerta : 75
illi eadem sumptis quaerunt animalia pinnis.
vultur iumento et canibus crucibusque relictis
ad fetus properat partemque cadaveris adfert :
hie est ergo cibus magni quoque vulturis et se
pascentis, propria cum iam facit arbore nidos. 80
sed leporem aut capream famulae Iovis et generosae
in saltu venantur aves, hinc pi-aeda cubili
ponitur : inde autem cum se matura levavit
progenies, stimulante fame festinat ad illam
quam primum praedam rupto gustaverat ovo. 85
Aedificator erat Cretonius et modo curvo
litore Caietae, summa nunc Tiburis arce,
nunc Praenestinis in montibus alta parabat
culmina villarum graecis longeque petitis
marmoribus vincens Fortunae atque Herculis
aedem, 90
ut spado vincebat Capitolia nostra Posides.
dum sic ergo habitat Cretonius, inminuit rem,
fregit opes, nee parva tamen mensura relictae
partis erat : totam hanc turbavit Alius amens,
dum meliore novas attollit marmore villas. 95
Quidam sortiti metuentem sabbata patrem
nil praeter nubes et caeli numen adorant,
nee distare putant humana carne suillam,
qua pater abstinuit, mox et praeputia ponunt ;
1 There were great temples of Fortuna at Praeneste, of
Hercules at Tibur.
* A freedman of Claudius.
3 The phrase caeli numen is hard to translate. What
Juvenal means is that the Jews worshipped no concrete
deity, such as could be pourtrayed, but only some impalpable
mysterious spirit. They did not worship the sky or the
heavens, but only the numen of the heavens. This is what
270
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIV
in what habits, you bring him up. The stork feeds
her young upon the serpents and the lizards which
she finds in the wilds ; the young search for the
same things when they have gotten to themselves
wings. The vulture hurries from dead cattle and
dogs and gibbets to bring some of the carrion to
her offspring ; so this becomes the food of the vulture
when he is full-grown and feeds himself, making his
nest in a tree of his own. The noble birds that wait
on Jove hunt the hare or the roe in the woods, and
from them serve up prey to their eyrie ; so when
their progeny are of full age and soar up from the
nest, hunger bids them swoop down upon that
same prey which they had first tasted when they
chipped the shell.
86 Cretonius was given to building ; now on Caieta's
winding shore, now on the heights of Tibur,
now on the Praenestine hills, he would rear lofty
mansions, with marbles fetched from Greece and
distant lands, outdoing the temples of Fortune and of
Hercules1 by as much as the eunuch Posides2 over-
topped our own Capitol. Housed therefore in this
manner, he impaired his fortune and frittered away
his wealth ; some goodly portion of it still remained,
but it was all squandered by his madman of a son in
building new mansions of still costlier marbles.
96 Some who have had a father who reveres the
Sabbath, worship nothing but the clouds, and the
divinity of the heavens,3 and see no difference be-
tween eating swine's flesh, from which their father
abstained, and that of man ; and in time they take
Tacitus means when he says (Hist. v. 5) "The Jews worship
with the mind alone." So Lucan. ii. 592-3 dedita sacris
Incerti Judaea dei.
271
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
Romanas autem soliti contemnere leges 100
Iudaicum ediscunt et servant ac metuunt ius,
tradidit arcano quodcumque volumine Moyses,
non monstrare vias eadem nisi sacra colenti,
quaesitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos.
sed pater in causa, cui septima quaeque fuit lux 105
ignava et partem vitae non attigit ullam.
Sponte tamen iuvenes imitantur cetera, solam
inviti quoque avaritiam exercere iubentur.
fallit enim vitium specie virtutis et umbra,
cum sit triste habitu vultuque et veste severum, 110
nee dubie tamquam frugi laudetur avarus,
tamquam parcus homo et rerum tutela suarum
certa magis quam si fortunas l servet easdem
Hesperidum serpens aut Ponticus. adde quod
hunc de
quo loquor egregium populus putat adquirendi 115
artificem ; quippe his crescunt patrimonia fabris.
sed crescunt quocumque modo, maioraque fiunt
incude adsidua semperque ardente camino.
Et pater ergo animi felices credit avaros ;
qui miratur opes, qui nulla exempla beati ; 120
pauperis esse putat, iuvenes hortatur ut ilia
ire via pergant 2 et eidem incumbere sectae.
sunt quaedam vitiorum elementa, his protinus illos
inbuit et cogit minimas ediscere sordes ;
mox adquirendi docet insatiabile votum. 125
servorum ventres modio castigat iniquo
1 PFGU have fortuna, other MSS. fortunas : Biich. (1910)
reads a fortuna. 2 pergant ty : peragant P.
i It is possible that this refers to the practice of baptism
which had become usual among the Jews in the time of our
Lord, as we see from the case of John the Baptist.
272
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIV
to circumcision. Having been wont to flout the laws
of Rome, they learn and practise and revere the
Jewish law, and all that Moses committed to his
secret tome, forbidding to point out the way to any
not worshipping the same rites, and conducting none
but the circumcised to the desired fountain.1 For
all which the father was to blame, who gave up every
seventh day to idleness, keeping it apart from all the
concerns of life.2
107 All vices but one the young imitate of their
own free will; avarice alone is enjoined on them
against the grain. For that vice has a deceptive
appearance and semblance of virtue, being gloomy of
mien, severe in face and garb. The miser is openly
commended for his thrift, being deemed a saving
man, who will be a surer guardian of his own wealth
than if it Avere watched by the dragons of the Hes-
perides or of Colchis. Moreover, such a one is
thought to be skilled in the art of money-getting ;
for it is under workers such as he that fortunes grow.
And they grow bigger by every kind of means : the
anvil is ever working, and the forge never ceases to
glow.
119 Thus the father deems the miser to be fortunate ;
and when he worships wealth, believing that no poor
man was ever happy, he urges his sons to follow in
the same path and to attach themselves to the same
school. There are certain rudiments in vice ; in these
he imbues them from the beginning, compelling them
to study its pettiest meannesses ; after a while he
instructs them in the inappeasable lust of money-
getting. He pinches the bellies of his slaves with
2 Tacitus also attributed the Sabbath to laziness ; and
adds devn blandiente inertia septhnum quoque annum iqnaviae
datum ( Hist. v. 4).
273
T
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
ipse quoque esuriens, neque enim omnia sustinet
umquam
mucida caerulei panis consumere frusta,
hesternum solitus medio servare minutal
Septembri nee non differre in tempora cenae IdU
alterius conehem aestivam cum parte lacerti
signatam vel dimidio putrique siluro,
filaque sectivi numerata includere porn,
invitatus ad haec aliquis de ponte negabit.
sed quo divitias haec per tormenta coactas, 1^0
cum furor haut dubius, cum sit manifesta phrenesis,
ut locuples moriaris, egentis vivere fato ?
interea pleno cum target sacculus ore,
crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecuma crevit,
et minus hanc optat qui non habet. ergo paratur 140
altera villa tibi, cum rus non sufficit unum,
et proferre libet fines maiorque videtur
et melior vicina seges, mercaris et hanc et
arbusta et densa montem qui canet oliva.
quorum si pretio dominus non vincitur ullo, 140
nocte boves macri lassoque famehca collo
iumenta ad virides huius mittentur anstas,
nee prius inde domum quam tota novalia saevos
in ventres abeant, ut credas falcibus actum,
dicere vix possis quam multi talia plorent I0U
et quot venales iniuria fecerit agros.
' Sed qui sermones, quam foedae » bucina famae 1
« quid nocet haec ? " inquit, « tunicam mihi malo
lupini
quam si me toto laudet vicinia pago ^
exigui ruris paucissima farra secantem. ioo
i negabit $ : negavit PS : negabal 0.
2 crevit P : alii crescit.
8 foedae ^ : foede FG.
274
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIV
short rations, starving himself into the bargain ; for
he cannot bear to eat up all the mouldy fragments
of stale bread. In the middle of September he will
save up the hash of yesterday; in summer-time he
will preserve under seal for to-morrow's dinner a dish
of beans, with a bit of mackerel, or half a stinking
sprat, counting the leaves of the cut leeks before he
puts them away. No beggar from a bridge would
accept an invitation to such a meal ! But for what
end do you pile up riches gathered through torments
such as these, when it is plain madness and sheer
lunacy to live in want that you may be wealthy when
you die? Meantime, while your purse is full to
bursting, your love of gain grows as much as the
money itself has grown, and the man who has none
of it covets it the least. And so when one country
house is not enougli for you, you buy a second;
then you must extend your boundaries, because your
neighbour's field seems bigger and better than your
T'V-iTt mUSt buy that t00> and his vineyard, and
the hill that is thick and grey with olive-trees. And
if no price will persuade the owner to sell, you will
send into his green corn by night a herd of lean and
tarnished cattle, with wearied necks, who will not
come home until they have put the whole crop into
their ravenous bellies ; no sickle, could make a cleaner
job ! How many bewail wrongs like these can scarce
be told, nor how many fields have been brought to
the hammer by such outrages.
152 But what a talk there will be ! How loud the
blast of evil rumour ! « What harm in that ? " you
will say: "better keep my peapods for myself than
have the praises of the whole country-side if I am
to have but a small farm and a miserable crop."
275
t 2
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
scilicet et morbis et debilitate carebis,
etluctum et curam effugies, et tempora vitae
longa tibi posthac fato meliore dabuntur,
si tantum culti solus possederis agri
quantum sub Tatio populus Romanus arabat. 160
mox etiam fractis aetate ac Punica passis
proelia vel Pyrrhum inmanem gladiosque Molossos
tandem pro multis vix iugera bina dabantur
vulneribus ; merces haec sanguinis atque laboris
nullis visa umquam meritis minor, aut ingratae 165
curta fides patriae ; saturabat glaebula talis
patrem ipsum turbamque casae, qua feta iacebat
uxor et infantes ludebant quattuor, unus
vernula, tres domini ; sed magnis fratribus horum
a scrobe vel sulco redeuntibus altera cena 170
amplior et grandes fumabant pultibus ollae :
nunc modus hie agri nostro non sufficit horto.
Inde fere scelerum causae, nee plura venena
miscuit aut ferro grassatur saepius ullum
humanae mentis vitium quam saeva cupido 1 7 0
tnmodici census, nam dives qui fieri vult,
et cito vult fieri ; sed quae reverentia legum,
quis metus aut pudor est umquam properantis avari?
« vivite contenti casulis et collibus istis,
o pueri," Marsus dicebat et Hernicus olim 180
Vestinusque senex; "panem quaeramus aratro,
qui satis est mensis ; laudant hoc numina runs,
quorum ope et auxilio gratae post munus aristae
contingunt homini veteris fastidia quercus.
276
JUVENAL, SATIRE XFV
Yes ; and no doubt you will escape disease and
weakness, you will have no sorrow, no trouble, you
will have long and ever happier days, if only you
are sole possessor of as many acres of good land as
the Roman people tilled in the days of Tatius. In
later times, Romans broken with old age, who had
fought in the Punic battles or against the dread
Pyrrhus or the swords of the Molossians, received at
last, in return for all their wounds, a scanty two
acres of land. None ever deemed such recompense
too small fo* their service of toil and blood ; none
spoke of a shabby, thankless country. A little plot
like that would feed the father himself and the
crowd at the cottage where lay the wife in child-
bed, with four little ones playing around — one slave-
born, three the master's own ; for their big brothers,
on their return from ditch or furrow, a second and
ampler supper of porridge would be smoking in a
lordly dish. To-day we don't think such a plot of
ground big enough for our garden !
173 It is here mostly that lies the cause of crime.
No human passion has mingled more poison-bowls,
none has more often wielded the murderous dagger,
than the fierce craving for unbounded wealth. For
the man who wants wealth must have it at once ;
what respect for laws, what fear, what sense of shame
is to be found in a miser hurrying to be rich ? " Live
content, my boys, with these cottages and hills of
yours," said the Marsian or Hernican or Vestinian
father in the days of yore ; " let the plough win for
us what bread shall suffice our table ; such fare the
rustic Gods approve, whose aid and bounty gave us the
glad ear of corn, and taught man to disdain the acorn
of ancient times. The man who is not ashamed to
277
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
nil vetitum fecisse volet quern non pudet alto 185
per glaciem perone tegi, qui summovet Euros
pellibus inversis : peregrina ignotaque nobis
ad scelus atque nefas, quaecumque est, purpura duett.''
Haec illi veteres praecepta minoribus, at nunc
post finem autumni media de nocte supinum 190
clamosus iuvenem pater excitat : " accipe ceras,
scribe, puer, vigila, causas age, perlege rubras
maiorum leges, aut vitem posce libello.
sed caput intactum buxo naresque pilosas
adnotet et grandes miretur Laelius alas^ 195
dirue Maurorum attegias, castella Brigantum,
ut locupletem aquilam tibi sexagesimus annus
adferat. aut longos castrorum ferre labores
si piget et trepidum solvunt tibi cornua ventrem
cum lituis audita, pares quod vendere possis 200
pluris dimidio, nee te fastidia mercis
ullius subeant ablegandae Tiberim ultra,
neu credas ponendum aliquid discriminis inter
unguenta et corium ; lucri bonus est odor ex re
qualibet. ilia tuo sententia semper in ore 205
versetur dis atque ipso love digna poeta :
' unde habeas quaerit nemo, sed oportet habere.'
hoc monstrant vetulae pueris repentibus assae,
hoc discunt omnes ante alpha et beta puellae."
Talibus instantem monitis quemcumque par-
entem 210
sic possem adfari : " die, o vanissime, quis te
festinare iubet ? meliorem praesto magistro
1 A powerful British tribe, occupying the greater part of
England north of the Humber.
2 i.e. the post of Senior Centurion (centurio primi pili),
who had charge of the eagle of the legion.
278
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIV
wear high boots in time of frost, and who keeps off
the East wind with skins tm-ned inwards, will never
wish to do a forbidden thing; it is purple raiment,
whatever it be, foreign and unknown to us, that leads
to crime and wickedness."
189 Such were the maxims which those ancients
taught the young ; but now, when autumn days are
over, the father l-ouses his sleeping son after mid-
night with a shout : " Awake, boy, and take your
tablets ; scribble away and get up your cases ; read
through the red-lettered laws of our forefathers, or
send in a petition for a centurion's vine-staff*. See
that Laelius notes your uncombed head and hairy
nostrils, and admires your broad shoulders ; destroy
the huts of the Moors and the forts of the Brigantes,1
that your sixtieth year may bring you the eagle 2
that will make you rich. Or if you are too lazy to
endure the weary labours of the camp, if the sound
of horn and trumpet melts your soul within you, buy
something that you can sell at half as much again ;
feel no dissrust at a trade that must be banished to
the other side of the Tiber ; make no distinction
between hides and unguents : the smell of gain is
good whatever the thing from which it comes. Lei
this maxim be ever on your lips, a saying worthy of
the Gods, and of Jove himself if he turned poet :
' No matter whence the money comes, but money
you must have.' " These are the lessons taught
by skinny old nurses to little boys before they can
walk ; this is what every girl learns before her
ABC!
210 To any father urging precepts such as these I
would say this : " Tell me, O emptiest of men, who
bids you hurry ? The disciple, I warrant you, will
279
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
discipulum. securus abi : vinceris ut Aiax
praeteriit Telamonem, ut Pelea vicit Achilles,
parcendum est teneris, nondum implevere me-
dullas 215
maturae l mala nequitiae. cum pectere barbam
coeperit et longae mucronem admittere cultri,
falsus erit testis, vendet periuria summa
exigua et Cereris tangens aramque pedemque.
elatam iam crede nurum, si limina vestra 220
mortifera cum dote subit. quibus ilia premetur
per somnum digitis ! nam quae terraque marique
adquirenda putas, brevior via conferet illi ;
nullus enim magni sceleris labor. ' haec ego num-
quam
mandavi,' dices olim, <nec talia suasi.' 225
mentis causa malae tamen est et origo penes te.
nam quisquis magni census praecepit amorem
et laevo monitu pueros producit avaros
et qui per fraudes patrimonia conduplicari 2
dat libertatem et totas effundit habenas 230
curriculo, quern si revoces, subsistere nescit
et te contempto rapitur metisque relictis.
nemo satis credit tantum delinquere quantum
permittas : adeo indulgent sibi latius ipsi.
" Cum dicis iuveni stultum qui donet amico, 235
qui paupertatem levet attollatque propinqui,
et spoliare doces et circumscribere et omni
crimine divitias adquirere ; quarum amor in te
quantus erat patriae Deciorum in pectore, quantum
dile.-dt Thebas, si Graecia vera, Menoeceus, 240
1 maturae " quinque Rupertii": naturae Pi|/.
2 After 229 Housm. inserts a conj. line, cum videant, cupiant
sic et sua conduplicari.
1 Slew himself to save Thebea.
280
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIV
outstrip his master. You may leave him with an easy
mind ; you will be outdone as surely as Telamon was
beaten by Ajax, or Peleus by Achilles. Be gentle
with the young ; their bones are not yet filled up
with the marrow of ripe wickedness. When the lad
begins to comb a beard, and apply to its length the
razor's edge, he will give false testimony, he will
sell his perjuries for a trifling sum, touching the
altar and the foot of Ceres all the time. If your
daughter-in-law brings a deadly dowry into the house,
you may count her as already dead and buried. What
a grip of fingers will throttle her in her sleep ! For
the wealth which you think should be hunted for
over land and sea, your son will acquire by a
shorter road ; great crimes demand no labour. Some
day you will say, 'I never taught these things, I
never advised them ' : no, but you are yourself the
cause and origin of your son's depravity ; for who-
soever teaches the love of wealth turns his sons into
misers by his ill-omened instruction. When he shows
him how to double his patrimony by fraud, he gives
him his head, and throws a free rein over the
car ; try to call him back, and he cannot stop : he
will pay no heed to you, he will rush on, leaving the
turning-post far behind. No man is satisfied with
sinning just as far as you permit : so much greater
is the license which they allow themselves !
235 "When you tell a youth that a man is a fool who
makes a present to a friend, or relieves and lightens
the poverty of a kinsman, you teach him to plunder
and to cheat and to commit any kind of crime for
money's sake, the love of which is as great in you as
was love of their country in the hearts of the Decii,
or in that of Menoeceus,1 if Greece speaks true
281
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
in quorum sulcis legiones dentibus anguis
cum clipeis nascuntur et horrida bella capessunt
continue-, tamquam et tubicen surrexerit una.
ergo ignem, cuius scintillas ipse dedisti,
flagrantem late et rapientem cuncta videbis. 245
nee tibi parcetur misero, trepidumque magistrum
in cavea magno fremitu leo toilet alumnus,
nota mathematicis genesis tua, sed grave tardas
expectare colus ; morieris stamine nondum
abrupto. iam nunc obstas et vota moraris, 250
iam torquet iuvenem longa et cervina senectus.
ocius Archigenen quaere atque erne quod Mithridates
composuit ; si vis aliam decerpere ficum
atque alias tractare rosas, medicamen habendum est,
sorbere ante cibum quod debeat et pater et
rex." 2o5
Monstro voluptatem egregiam, cui nulla theatra,
nulla aequare queas praetoris pulpita lauti,
si spectes quanto capitis discrimine constent
incrementa domus, aerata multus in area
fiscus et ad vigilem ponendi Castora nummi, 260
ex quo Mars Vltor galeam quoque perdidit et res
non potuit servare suas. ergo omnia Florae
et Cereris licet et Cybeles aulaea relinquas :
tanto maiores humana negotia ludi.
an magis oblectant animum iactata petauro 265
corpora quique solet rectum descendere funem,
quam tu, Corycia semper qui puppe moraris,
atque habitas, Coro semper tollendus et Austro,
1 Money was deposited in the temple of Castor, in the
Forum.
2 The temple of Mars Ultor, in the Forum Augusti, seems
to have been burgled.
3 i.e. the games. * Corycus. a town in Cilicia.
282
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIV
for Thebes — that country in whose furrows armed
legions sprang into life out of dragons' teeth, taking
straightway to grim battle as though a bugler had
also risen up along with them. Thus you will see
the fire, whose sparks you yourself have kindled,
blazing far and wide and carrying all before them.
Nor will you yourself, poor wretch, meet with any
mercy ; the pupil lion, with a loud roar, will devour the
trembling instructor in his den. Your nativity, you
say, is known to the astrologers : but it is a tedious
thing to wait for the slow-running spindle, and you
will die before your thread is snapped. You are already
in your son's way; you are delaying his prayers ; your
long and stag-like old age is a torment to the young
man. Seek out Archigenes at once ; buy some of the
mixture of Mithridates ; if you wish to pluck one
more fig, and gather roses once again, you should have
some medicament to be swallowed before dinner by
one who is both a father and a king."
256 I am showing you the choicest of diversions,
one with which no theatre, no show of a grand
Praetor can compare, if you will observe at what a
risk to life men increase their fortunes, become pos-
sessors of full brass-bound treasure-chests, or of the
cash which must be deposited with watchful Castor,1
ever since Mars the Avenger lost his helmet and
failed to protect his own effects.2 So you may give
up all the performances of Flora, of Ceres, and of
Cybele3; so much finer are the games of human
life. Is there more pleasure to be got from gazing
at men hurled from a spring-board, or tripping down
a tight rope, than from yourself— you who spend your
whole life in a Corycian4 ship, ever tossed by the
wind from North or South, a poor contemptible
283
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
perditusac vilis 1 sacci mercator olentis,
qui gaudes pingue antiquae de litore Cretae 270
passum et municipes Iovis advexisse lagonas ?
hie tamen ancipiti figens vestigia planta
victum ilia mercede parat, brumamque famemque
ilia reste cavet : tu propter mille talenta
et centum villas temerarius. aspice portus 275
et plenum magnis trabibus mare : plus hominum es
iam
in pelago. veniet classis quocumque vocarit
spes lucrij nee Carpathium Gaetulaque tantum
aequora transiliet, sed longe Calpe relicta
audiet Herculeo stridentem gurgite solem. 280
grande operae pretium est, ut tenso folle reverti
inde domum possis tumidaque supei'bus aluta,
Oceani monstra et iuvenes vidisse mai'inos.
Non unus mentes agitat furor ; ille sororis
in manibus vultu Eumenidum terretur et igni, 285
hie bove percusso mugire Agamemnona credit
aut Ithacum : parcat tunicis licet atque lacernis,
curatoris eget qui navem mercibus implet
ad summum latus et tabula distinguitur unda,
cum sit causa mali tanti et discriminis huius 290
concisum argentum in titulos faciesque minutas.
occurrunt nubes et fulgura : " solvite funem "
frumenti dominus clamat piperisve coempti,
" nil color hie caeli, nil fascia nigra minatur ;
1 ac vilis P etc.: a siculis ty: ac similis conj. Housm.:
assiculis Biich. (1910).
1 Because Zeus was born in Crete.
2 The rock of Gibraltar. 3 i.e. Orestes.
284
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIV
trafficker in stinking wares, finding your joy in im-
porting sweet wine from the shores of ancient Crete,
or flagons that were fellow-citizens of Jove ? l Yet
the man who plants his steps with balanced foot gains
his livelihood thereby; that rope keeps him from
cold and hunger ; while you run the risk for the sake
of a thousand talents or a hundred mansions. Look
at our ports, our seas, crowded with big ships ! The
men at sea now outnumber those on shore. Whither-
soever hope of gain shall call, thither fleets will come ;
not content with bounding over the Carpathian and
Gaetulian seas, they will leave Calpe2 far behind,
and hear the sun hissing in the Herculean main.
It is well worth while, no doubt, to have beheld the
monsters of the deep and the young mermen of the
Ocean that you may return home with tight-stuffed
purse, and exult in your swollen money-bags !
284 Not all men are possessed with one form of
madness. One 3 madman in his sister's arms is ter-
rified by the faces and fire of the Furies ; another,4
when he strikes down an ox, believes that it is
Agamemnon or the Ithacan 5 that is bellowing. The
man who loads his ship up to the gunwale with
goods, with only a plank between him and the deep,
is in need of a keeper, though he keep his hands off
his shirt and his cloak, seeing that he endures all
that misery and all that danger for the sake of bits
of silver cut up into little images and inscriptions!
Should clouds and thunder threaten, " Let go ! " cries
the merchant who has bought up corn or pepper,
" that black sky, this dark wrack, are nought — it is
4 i.e. Ajax, who went mad, slaughtering a flock of sheep
in the belief that he was slaying Agamemnon and Ulysses.
6 Ulyssea.
285
IVVENALIS SATVRA XIV
aestivum tonat." infelix hac forsitan ipsa 295
nocte cadet fractis trabibus fluctuque premetur
obrutus et zonam laeva morsuque tenebit.
sed cuius votis modo non suftecerat aurum
quod Tagus et rutila volvit Pactolus harena,
frigida sufficient velantes inguina panni 300
exiguusque cibus, mersa rate naufragus assem
dum rogat et picta se tempestate tuetur.
Tantis parta malis cura maiore metuque
servantur : misera est magni custodia census,
dispositis praedives amis vigilare cohortem 305
servorum noctu Licinus iubet, attonitus pro
electro signisque suis Phrygiaque columna
atque ebore et lata testudine. dolia nudi
non ardent cynici ; si fregeris, altera net
eras domus, atque eadem plumbo commissa mane-
bit. 310
sensit Alexander, testa cum vidit in ilia
magnum habitatorem, quanto felicior hie qui
nil cuperet quam qui totum sibi posceret orbem
passurus gestis aequanda pericula rebus.
nullum numen habes, si sit prudentia : nos te, 315
nos facimus, Fortuna, deam.1
Mensura tamen quae
sufficiat census, siquis me consulat, edam :
in quantum sitis atque fames et frigora poscunt,
quantum, Epicure, tibi parvis suffecit in hortis,
quantum Socratici ceperunt ante penates ; 320
numquam aliud natura, aliud sapientia dicit.
acribus exemplis videor te cludere ? misce
ergo aliquid nostris de moribus, effice summam
1 The sentence nullum — deam, is repeated from x. 365, quite
irrelevantly.
1 The gold-bearing river of Lydia. 2 Diogenes.
286
JUVENAL, SATIRE XIV
but summer lightning." Poor wretch ! on this very
night perchance he will be cast out amid broken
timbers and engulfed by the waves, clutching his
purse with his left hand or his teeth. The man for
whose desires yesterday not all the gold which Tagus
and the ruddy Pactolus x rolls along would have suf-
ficed, must now content himself with a rag to cover
his cold and nakedness, and a poor morsel of food,
while he begs for pennies as a shipwrecked mariner,
and supports himself by a painted storm !
303 Wealth gotten with such woes is preserved by
fears and troubles that are greater still ; it is misery
to have the guardianship of a great fortune. The
millionaire Licinus orders a troop of slaves to be on
the watch all night with fire buckets in their places,
being anxious for his amber, his statues and Phry-
gian marbles, his ivory and plaques of tortoise-shell.
The nude Cynic 2 fears no fire for his tub ; if broken,
he will make himself a new house to-morrow, or
repair it with clamps of lead. When Alexander
beheld in that tub its mighty occupant, he felt how
much happier was the man who had no desires than
he who claimed for himself the entire world, with
perils before him as great as his achievements. Had
we but wisdom, thou wouldst have no Divinity, O
Fortune : it is we that make thee into a Goddess !
316 Yet if any should ask of me what measure of
fortune is enough, I will tell him : as much as thirst,
cold and hunger demand ; as much as sufficed you,
Epicurus, in your little garden ; as much as in earlier
days was to be found in the house of Socrates. Never
does Nature say one thing and Wisdom another. Do
the limits within which I confine you seem too severe ?
Then throw in something from our own manners ;
287
IVVENALIS SATVRA XV
bis septem ordinibus quam lex dignatur Othonis.
haec quoque si rugam trahit extenditque label-
lum, 325
sume duos equites, fac tertia quadringenta
si nondum inplevi gremium, si panditur ultra,
nee Croesi fortuna umquam nee Persica regna
sufficient animo nee divitiae Narcissi,
indulsit Caesar cui Claudius omnia, cuius 330
paruit imperiis uxorem occidere iussus.
SATVRA XV
Quis nescit, Volusi Bithynice, qualia demens
Aegyptos portenta colat ? crocodilon adorat
pars haec, ilia pavet saturam serpentibus ibin ;
effigies sacri nitet aurea cercopitheci,
dimidio magicae resonant ubi Memnone chordae 5
atque vetus Thebe centum iacet obruta portis.
illic aeluros,1 hie piscem fluminis, illic
oppida tota canem venerantur, nemo Dianam.
porrum et caepe nefas violare et frangere morsu ;
o sanctas gentes quibus haec nascuntur in hortis 10
numina ! lanatis animalibus abstinet omnis
mensa, nefas illic fetum iugulare capellae :
carnibus humanis vesci licet, attonito cum
1 aeluros Brod. : illic caeruhos y.
1 See note on iii. 155.
2 The most powerful and wealthiest of Claudius' freedmen.
3 For the part played by Narcissus in securing the punish-
ment of Messalina, see Tac. Ann. xi. 33-37.
288
JUVENAL, SATIRE XV
make up a sum as big as that which Otho's law1
deems worthy of the fourteen rows. If that also
knits your brow, and makes you thrust out your lip,
take a couple of knights, or make up thrice four
hundred thousand sesterces ! If your lap is not yet
full, if it is still opening for more, then neither the
wealth of Croesus, nor that of the Persian Monarchs,
will suffice you, nor yet that of Narcissus,2 on whom
Claudius Caesar lavished everything, and whose
orders he obeyed when bidden to slay his wife.3
SATIRE XV
An Egyptian Atrocity
Who knows not, O Bithynian Volusius, what mon-
sters demented Egypt worships ? One district adores
the crocodile, another venerates the Ibis that gorges
itself with snakes. In the place where magic chords
are sounded by the truncated Memnon/ and ancient
hundred-gated Thebes lies in ruins, men worship
the glittering golden image of the long-tailed ape.
In one part cats are worshipped, in another a
river fish, in another whole townships venerate a
dog; none adore Diana, but it is an impious
outrage to crunch leeks and onions with the teeth.
What a holy race to have such divinities spring-
ing up in their gardens! No animal that grows
wool may appear upon the dinner-table; it is for-
bidden there to slay the young of the goat; but
it is lawful to feed on the flesh of man ! When
* The famous statue of Memnon at Thebes, which emitted
musical sounds at daybreak.
289
IVVENALIS SATVRA XV
tale super cenam facinus narraret Vlixes
Alcinoo, bilem aut risum fortasse quibusdam 15
moverat ut mendax aretalogus. " in mare nemo
hunc abicit saeva dignum veraque Charybdi,
fingentem inmanes Laestrygonas atque Cyclopas ?
nam citius Scyllam vel concurrentia saxa
Cyaneis plenos et tempestatibus utres 20
crediderim aut tenui percussum verbere Circes
et cum remigibus grunnisse Elpenora porcis.
tarn vacui capitis populum Phaeaca putavit ? "
sic aliquis merito nondum ebrius et minimum qui
de Corcyraea temetum duxerat urna. 25
solus enim haec Itbacus nullo sub teste canebat ;
Nos miranda quidem, set nuper consule Iunco1
gesta super calidae refer emus moenia Copti,
nos volgi scelus et cunctis graviora cotburnis ;
nam scelus, a Pyrra quamquam omnia syrmata
volvas, 30
nullus aput tragicos populus facit. accipe, nostro
dira quod exemplum feritas produxerit aevo.
Inter finitimos vetus atque antiqua simultas,
inmortale odium et numquam sanabile vulnus,
ardet adhuc Ombos et Tentyra. summus utrimque 35
inde furor volgo, quod numina vicinorum
odit uterque locus, cum solos credat habendos
1 iunco Bob.AU: iunpo P: iunio <|/.
i King of the Phaeacians, to whom Ulysses narrated his
adventures. , . .
2 The clashing rocks {cvfj^Xyyades) at the mouth of the
Bosporus. . , _.
a One of the crew of Ulysses turned into a pig by Circe.
290
JUVENAL, SATIRE XV
Ulysses told a tale like this over the dinner-table
to the amazed Alcinous,1 he stirred some to wrath,
some perhaps to laughter, as a lying story-teHer.
"What?" one would say, "will no one hurl this
fellow into the sea, who merits a terrible and a true
Charybdis with his inventions of monstrous Laestry-
gones and Cyclopes ? For I could sooner believe in
Scylla, and the clashing Cyanean rocks,2 and skins
full of storms, or in the story how Circe, by a gentle
touch, turned Elpenor 3 and his comrades into grunt-
ing swine. Did he deem the Phaeacians people so
devoid of brains ? " So might some one have justly
spoken who was not yet tipsy, and had taken but a
small drink of wine from the Corcyraean bowl, for
the Ithacan's tale was all his own, with none to bear
him witness.
27 I will now relate strange deeds done of late in
the consulship of Juncus,4 beyond the walls of broil-
ing Coptus ; a crime of the common herd, worse than
any crime of the tragedians ; for though you turn
over all the tales of long-robed Tragedy from the
days of Pyrrha onwards, you will find there no crime
committed by an entire people. But hear what an
example of ruthless barbarism has been displayed in
these days of ours.
33 Between the neighbouring towns of Ombi and
Tentyra5 there burns an ancient and long-cherished
feud and undying hatred, whose wounds are not to
be healed. Each people is filled with fury against
the other because each hates its neighbours' Gods,
deeming that none can be held as deities save its
4 Aemilius Juncus was consul in a.d. 127. This fixes the
earliest date for this Satire.
6 Ombi and Tentyra (now Dendyra), towns in Upper
Egypt.
29?
02
1VVENALIS SATVRA XV
esse deos quos ipse colit. sed tempore festo
alterius populi rapienda occasio cunctis
visa inimicorum primoribus ac ducibus, ne 40
laetum hilaremque diem, ne magnae gaudia cenae
sentirent positis ad templa et compita mensis
pervigilique toro, quem nocte ac luce iacentem
Septimus interdum sol invenit. horrida sane
Aegyptos, sed luxuria, quantum ipse notavi, 45
barbava famoso non cedit turba Canopo.
adde quod et facilis victoria de madidis et
blaesis atque mero titubantibus. inde virorum
saltatus nigro tibicine, qualiacumque
unguenta et flores multaeque in fronte coronae : 50
hinc ieiunum odium, sed iurgia prima sonare
incipiunt. animis ardentibus haec tuba rixae ;
dein clamore pari concurritur, et vice teli
saevit nuda manus. paucae sine vulnere make ;
vix cuiquam aut nulli toto certamine nasus 55
integer, aspiceres iam cuncta per agmina vultus
dimidios, alias facies et hiantia ruptis
*ssa genis, plenos oculorum sanguine pugnos.
ludere se credunt ipsi tamen et puerilis
exercere acies, quod nulla cadavera calcent. 60
et sane quo tot rixantis milia turbae,
si vivunt omnes ? ergo acrior impetus, et iam
saxa inclinatis per bumum quaesita lacertis
incipiunt torquere, domestica seditioni
tela : nee bunc lapidem, qualis et Turnus et Aiax, 65
vel quo Tydides percussit pondere coxam
1 A city in the Delta, near the W. mouth of the Nile.
292
JUVENAL, SATIRE XV
own. So when one of these peoples held a feast,
the chiefs and leaders of their enemy thought good
to seize the occasion, so that their foe might not
enjoy a glad and merry day, with the delight of
grand banquets, with tables set out at every temple
and every crossway, and with night-long feasts, and
with couches spread all day and all night, and some-
times discovered by the sun upon the seventh morn.
Egypt, doubtless, is a rude country ; but in indul-
gence, so far as I myself have noted, its barbarous
rabble yields not to the ill-famed Canopus.1 Victory
too would be easy, it was thought, over men steeped
in wine, stuttering and stumbling in their cups. On
the one side were men dancing to a swarthy piper,
with unguents, such as they were, and flowers and
chaplets on their heads ; on the other side, a ravenous
hate. First come loud words, as preludes to the fray :
these serve as a trumpet-call to their hot passions ;
then shout answering shout, they charge. Bare hands
do the fell work of war. Scarce a cheek is left with-
out a gash ; scarce one nose, if any, comes out of the
battle unbroken. Through all the ranks might be seen
battered faces, and features other than they were ;
bones gaping through torn cheeks, and fists dripping
with blood from eyes. Yet the combatants deem
themselves at play and waging a boyish warfare be-
cause there are no corpses on which to trample. What
avails a mob of so many thousand brawlers if no lives
are lost ? So fiercer and fiercer grows the fight ;
they now search the ground for stones — the natural
weapons of civic strife — and hurl them with bended
arms against the foe : not such stones as Turnus or
Ajax flung, or like that with which the son of Tydeus 2
* Diomedes.
293
IVVENALIS SATVRA XV
Aeneae, sed quem valeant emittere dextrae
ill is dissiniiles et nostro tempore natae.
nam genus hoc vivo iam decrescebat Homero ;
terra malos homines nunc educat atque pusillos ; 70
ergo deus quicumque aspexit, ridet et odit.
A deverticulo repetatur fabula. postquam
subsidiis aucti, pars altera pvomere ferrum
audet et infestis pugnam instaurare sagittis.
terga fugae x celeri praestant instantibus Ombis 75
qui vicina colunt umbrosae Tentyra palmae.
labitur hie quidam nimia formidine cursum
praecipitans capiturque. ast ilium in plurima sectum
frusta et particulas, ut multis mortuus unus
sufficeret, totum corrosis ossibus edit 80
victrix turba, nee ardenti decoxit aeno
aut veribus : longum usque adeo tardumque putavit
expectare tocos, contenta cadavere crudo.
Hie gaudere libet quod non violaverit ignem,
quem summa caeli raptum de parte Prometheus 85
donavit terris ; elemento gratulor, et te
exultare reor. sed qui mordere cadaver
sustinuit, nil umquam hac carne libentius edit,
nam scelere in tanto ne quaeras et dubites an
prima voluptatem gula senserit ; ultimus autem 90
qui stetit, absumpto iam toto corpore ductis
per terrain digitis aliquid de sanguine gustat.
Vascones, haec fama est, alimentis talibus olim
produxere animas. sed res diversa, sed illic
1 fugae POT : fuga if». The correct reading instantibus
Ombis is preserved by 0 only.
1 A Spanish tribe N. of the Ebro ; their chief town, Cala-
gurris, was reduced by Af ramus in B.C. 72, after the fall of
Sertorius.
294
JUVENAL, SATIRE XV
struck Aeneas on the hip, but such as may be cast
by hands unlike to theirs, and born in these days of
ours. For even in Homer's day the race of man
was on the wane ; earth now produces none but
weak and wicked men that provoke such Gods as
see them to laughter and to loathing.
72 To come back from our digression : the one side,
reinforced, boldly draws the sword and renews the
fight with showers of arrows ; the dwellers in the
shady palm-groves of neighbouring Tentyra turn
their backs in headlong flight before the Ombite
charge. Hereupon one of them, over-afraid and
hurrying, tripped and was caught ; the conquering
host cut up his body into a multitude of scraps and
morsels, that one dead man might suffice for
everyone, and devoured it bones and all. There was
no stewing of it in boiling pots, no roasting upon
spits ; so slow and tedious they thought it to wait
for a fire, that they contented themselves with the
corpse uncooked !
84 One may here rejoice that no outrage was done
to the flame that Prometheus stole from the highest
heavens, and gifted to the earth. I felicitate the
element, and doubt not that you are pleased ; but
never was flesh so relished as by those who endured
to put that carcase between their teeth. For in that
act of gross wickedness, do not doubt or ask whether
it was only the first gullet that enjoyed its meal ;
for when the whole body had been consumed, those
who stood furthest away actually dragged their
fingers along the ground and so got some smack of
the blood.
93 The Vascones,1 fame tells us, once prolonged
their lives by such food as this ; but their case was
295
IVVENALIS SATVRA XV
fortunae invidia est bellorumque ultima, casus 95
extremi, longae dira obsidionis egestas ;
huius enim, quod nunc agitur, miserabile debet
exemplum esse cibi, sicut x modo dicta mihi gens :
post omnis herbas, post cuncta animalia, quidquid
cogebat vacui ventris furor, hostibus ipsis 100
pallorem ac maciem et tenuis miserantibus artus,
membra aliena fame lacerabant, esse parati
et sua. quisnam hominum veniam dare quisve
deorum
ventribus 2 abnueret dira atque inmania passis,
et quibus illorum poterant ignoscere manes, 105
quorum corporibus vescebantur ? melius nos
Zenonis praecepta monent, nee enim omnia, quaedam3
pro vita facienda putant ; sed Cantab er unde
Stoicus, antiqui praesertim aetate Metelli ?
nunc totus Graias nostrasque habet orbis Athenas, 1 10
Gallia causidicos docuit facunda Britannos,
de conducendo loquitur iam rhetore Thyle.
nobilis ille tamen populus quern diximus, et par
virtute atque fide sed maior clade Zacynthos
tale quid excusat : Maeotide saevior ara 115
Aegyptos ; quippe ilia nefandi Taurica sacri
inventrix homines (ut iam quae carmina tradunt
1 Housm. reads tibi from G in place of cibi P^, and conj.
si cui in place of sicut P^.
2 So Housm., after Hadr. Vales.: PU have urbibus, and so
Biich. and Owen : viribus \p.
3 quaedam AGLT : P has quiclam : so Biich. and Housm.
1 The founder of the Stoic school.
2 The Vasconea were not Cantabrians, who were more to
the W.
3 Q. Caecilius Metellus conducted the war against Ser-
torius, B.C. 79-72.
296
JUVENAL, SATIRE XV
different. Unkindly fortune had brought on them
the last dire extremity of war, the famine of a long
siege. In a plight like that of the people just named,
resorting to such food deserves our pity, inasmuch
as not till they had consumed every herb, every living
thing, and everything else to which the pangs of an
empty belly drove them — not till their very enemies
pitied their pale, lean and wasted limbs — did hunger
make them tear the limbs of other men, being ready
to feed even upon their own. What man, what God,
would withhold a pardon from bellies which had suf-
fered such dire straits, and which might look to be
forgiven by the Manes of those whose bodies they
were devouring ? To us, indeed, Zeno T gives better
teaching, for he permits some things, though not
indeed all things, to be done for the saving of life ;
but how could a Cantabrian 2 be a Stoic, and that too
in the days of old Metellus?3 To-day the whole
world has its Greek and its Roman Athens ; eloquent
Gaul has trained the pleaders of Britain, and distant
Thule 4 talks of hiring a rhetorician. Yet the people
I have named were a noble people ; and the people
of Zacynthos,5 their equals in bravery and honour,
their more than equals in calamity, offer a like ex-
cuse. But Egypt is more savage than the Maeotid 6
altar; for if we may hold the poet's tales as time,
the foundress of that accursed Tauric rite does but
4 The most distant land or island to the N. ; possibly
Shetland or Iceland.
5 A poetic name for the Spanish town of Saguntum, sup-
posed to have been founded from Zacynthus ; taken by
Hannibal B.C. 218.
6 The palus Maeotis was the sea of Azov : strangers were
there sacrificed on the altar of the Tauric {i.e. Crimean)
Artemis.
297
IVVENALIS SATVRA XV
digna fide credas) tantum immolat, ulterius nil
aut gravius cultro timet hostia. quis modo casus
inpulit hos ? quae tanta fames infestaque vallo 120
arma coegerunt tarn detestabile monstrum
audere ? anne aliam terra Memphitide sicca
invidiam facerent nolenti surgere Nilo ?
qua nee terribiles Cimbri nee Brittones umquam
Sauromataeque truces aut inmanes Agathyrsi, 125
hac saevit rabie inbelle et inutile vulgus,
parvula fictilibus solitum dare vela phaselis
et brevibus pictae remis incumbere testae.
nee poenam sceleri invenies nee digna parabis
supplicia his populis, in quorum mente pares sunt 130
et similes ira atque fames, mollissima corda
humane- generi dare se natura fatetur,
quae lacrimas dedit ; haec nostri pars optima sensus.
plorare ergo iubet causam dicentis amici
squaloremque rei, pupillum ad iura vocantem 135
circumscriptorein, cuius manantia fletu
ora puellares faciunt incerta capilli.
naturae imperio gemimus, cum funus adultae
virginis occurrit vel terra clauditur infans
et minor igne rogi. quis enim bonus et face dignus 140
arcana, qualem Cereris vult esse sacerdos,
ulla aliena sibi credit mala ? separat hoc nos
a grege mutorum, atque ideo venerabile soli
sortiti ingenium divinorumque capaces
atque exercendis pariendisque artibus apti 145
sensum a caelesti demissum traximus arce,
cuius egent prona et terram spectantia. mundi
1 An uncertain tribe, placed by Herodotus in Transyl-
vania. . .
3 i.e. worthy of being initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries.
298
JUVENAL, SATIRE XV
slay her victims ; they have nought further or more
terrible than the knife to fear. But what calamity
drove these Egyptians to the deed ? What extremity
of hunger, what beleaguering army, compelled them
to so monstrous and infamous a crime ? Were the
land of Memphis to run dry, could they do aught
else than this to shame the Nile for being; loth to
rise ? No dread Cimbrians or Britons, no savage
Scythians or monstrous Agathyrsians,1 ever raged
so furiously as this unwarlike and worthless rabble
that hoists tiny sails on crockery ships, and plies
puny oars on boats of painted earthenware ! No
penalty can you devise for such a crime, no fit pun-
ishment for a people in whose minds rage and
hunger are like and equal things. When Nature
gave tears to man, she proclaimed that he was
tender-hearted ; and tenderness is the best quality
in man. She therefore bids us weep for the misery
of a friend upon his trial, or when a ward whose
streaming cheeks and girlish locks raise a doubt
as to his sex brings a defrauder into court. It is
at Nature's behest that we weep when we meet the
bier of a full-grown maiden, or when the earth closes
over a babe too young for the funeral pyre. For what
good man, what man worthy of the mystic torch,2
and such as the priest of Ceres would wish him to
be, believes that any human woes concern him not ?
It is this that separates us from the dumb herd ;
and it is for this that we alone have had allotted to
us a nature worthy of reverence, capable of divine
things, fit to acquire and practise the arts of life,
and that we have drawn from on high that gift
of feeling which is lacking to the beasts that
grovel with eyes upon the ground. To them in the
299
IVVENALIS SATVRA XV
principio indulsit communis conditor illis
tantum animas, nobis animum quoque, mntuus
ut nos
adfectus petere auxilium et praestare iuberet, 150
dispersos trahere in populum, migrare vetusto
de nemore et proavis habitatas linquere silvas,
aedificare domos, laribus coniungere nostris
tectum aliud, tutos vicino limine x somnos
ut collata daret fiducia, protegere armis 155
lapsum aut ingenti nutantem vulnere civem,
communi dare signa tuba, defendier isdem
turribus atque una portarum clave teneri.
Sed iam serpentum maior concordia, parcit
cognatis maculis similis fera ; quando leoni 160
fortior eripuit vitam leo ? quo nemore uraquam
expiravit aper maioris dentibus apri ?
Indica tigris agit rabida cum tigride pacem
perpetuam, saevis inter se convenit ursis.
ast homini ferrum letale incude nefanda 165
produxisse parum est, cum rastra et sarcula tantum
adsueti coquere et man-is ac vomere lassi
nescierint primi gladios extendere fabri,
aspicimus populos quorum non sufficit irae
occidisse aliquem, sed pectora bracchia voltum 170
crediderint genus esse cibi. quid diceret ergo
vel quo non fugeret, si nunc haec monstra videret
Pythagoras, cunctis animalibus abstinuit qui
tamquam homine et ventri indulsit non omne
legumen ?
1 limine 4> '• limite PA.
300
JUVENAL, SATIRE XV
beginning of the world our common maker gave
only life ; to us he gave souls as well, that fellow-
feeling might bid us ask or proffer aid, gather
scattered dwellei's into a people, desert the primeval
groves and woods inhabited by our forefathers, build
houses for ourselves, with others adjacent to our
own, that a neighbour's threshold, from the confi-
dence that comes of union, might give us peaceful
slumbers ; shield with arms a fallen citizen, or one
staggering from a grievous wound, give battle signals
by a common trumpet, and seek protection inside
the same city walls, and behind gates fastened by
a single key.
109 But in these days there is more amity among
serpents than among men ; wild beasts are merciful
to beasts spotted like themselves. When did the
stronger lion ever take the life of the weaker ? In
what wood did a boar ever breathe his last under
the tusks of a boar bigger than himself ? The fierce
tigress of India dwells in perpetual peace with her
fellow ; bears live in harmony with bears. But man
finds it all too little to have forged the deadly blade
on an impious anvil ; for whereas the first artificers
only wearied themselves with forging hoes and har-
rows, spades and ploughshares, not knowing how to
beat out swords, we now behold a people whose
wrath is not assuaged by slaying someone, but who
deem that a man's breast, arms, and face afford a
kind of food. What would Pythagoras say, or to
what place would he not flee, if he beheld these
horrors of to-day, — he who refrained from every
living creature as if it were human, and would not
indulge his belly with every kind of vegetable ?
301
IVVENALIS SATVRA XVI
SATVRA XVI
Quis numerare queat felicis praemia, Galli,
militiae ? nam si subeuntur prospera castra,
me pavidum excipiat tironem porta secundo
sidere. plus*etenim fati valet hora benigni
quam si nos Veneris commendet epistula Marti 5
et Samia genetrix quae delectatur harena.
Commoda tractemus primum communia, quorum
haut minimum illud erit, ne te pulsare togatus
audeatj immo etsi pulsetur, dissimulet nee
audeat excussos praetori ostendere dentes 10
et nigram in facie tumidis livoribus offam
atque oculum medico nil promittente relictum.
Bardaicus iudex datur haec punire volenti
calceus et grandes magna ad subsellia surae
legibus antiquis castrorum et more Camilli 15
servato, miles ne vallum litiget extra
et procul a signis. " iustissima centurionum
cognitio est igitur 1 de milite, nee mihi derit
ultio, si iustae defertur causa querellae."
tota cohors tamen est inimica, omnesque manipli 20
consensu magno efficiunt curabilis ut sit
vindicta et gravior quam 2 iniuria. dignum erit ergo
declamatoris mulino corde Vagelli,
cum duo crura habeas, offendere tot caligas, tot
1 For the iyitar of P>|/ Housm. reads inquis.
2 quam Pi^ : Biicli. (1910) conj. turn.
Juno.
302
JUVENAL, SATIRE XVI
SATIRE XVI
The Immunities of the Military
Who can count up, Gallius, all the prizes ol
prosperous soldiering ? I would myself pray to be a
trembling recruit if I could but enter a favoured
camp under a lucky star : for one moment of be-
nignant fate is of more avail than a letter of com-
mendation to Mars from Venus, or from his mother,1
who delights in the sandy shore of Samos.
7 Let us first consider the benefits common to all
soldiers, of which not the least is this, that no
civilian will dare to thrash you; if thrashed him-
self, he must hold his tongue, and not venture
to exhibit to the Praetor the teeth that have been
knocked out, or the black and blue lumps upon his
face, or the one eye left which the doctor holds out no
hope of saving. If he seek redress, he has appointed
for him as judge a hob-nailed centm-ion with a row
of jurors with brawny calves sitting before a big
bench. For the old camp law and the rule of
Camillus still holds good which forbids a soldier to
attend court outside the camp, and at a distance
from the standards. " Most right and proper it is,"
you say, " that a centurion should pass sentence on
a soldier ; nor shall I fail of satisfaction if I make
good my cass." But then the whole cohort will be
your enemies ; all the maniples will agree as one man
in applying a cure to the redress you have received by
giving you a thrashing which shall be worse than the
first. So, as you possess a pair of legs, you must have
a mulish brain worthy of the eloquent Vagellius to
provoke so many jack-boots, and all those thousands
3°3
1VVENALIS SATVRA XVI
milia clavorum. quis tarn procul absit ab urbe 25
praeterea, quis tarn Pylades, molem aggeris ultra
ut veniat? lacrimae siccentur protinus, et se
excusaturos non sollicitemus amicos.
"da testem " iudex cum dixerit, audeat ille
nescio quis, pugnos qui vidit, dicere " vidi," 30
et credam dignum barba dignumque capillis .
maiorum. citius falsum producere testem
contra paganum possis quam vera loquentem
contra fortunam armati contraque pudorem.
Praemia nunc alia atque alia emolumenta note-
mus 3o
sacramentorum. convallem ruris aviti
improbus aut campum mibi si vicinus ademit
' et sacrum effodit medio de limite saxum,
quod mea cum patulo coluit puis annua libo,
debitor aut sumptos pergit non reddere nummos 40
vana supervacui dicens chirograpba ligni,
expectandus erit qui lites inchoet annus
totius populi. sed tunc quoque mille ferenda
taedia, mille morae ; totiens subsellia tantum
stei-nuntur, iam facundo ponente lacernas 45
Caedicio et Fusco iam micturiente parati
digredimur, lentaque fori pugnamus harena.
ast illis quos arma tegunt et balteus ambit,
quod placitum est ipsis praestatur tempus agendi
nee res atteritur longo sufflamine litis. 50
Solis praeterea testandi militibus ius
vivo patre datur. nam quae sunt parta labore
1 The inseparable friend of Orestes.
3°4
JUVENAL, SATIRE XVI
of hobnails. And besides who would venture so far
from the city ? Who would be such a Pylades l as
to go inside the rampart ? Better dry your eyes at
once, and not importune friends who will but make
excuses. When the judge has called for witnesses,
let the man, whoever he be, who saw the assault
dare to say, " I saw it," and I will deem him worthy
of the beard and long hair of our forefathers. Sooner
will you find a false witness against a civilian than
one who will tell the truth against the interest and
the honour of a soldier.
35 And now let us note other profits and per-
quisites of the service. If some rascally neighbour
have filched from me a dell or a field of my ancestral
estate, and have dug up, from the mid point of my
boundary, the hallowed stone which I have honoured
every year with an offering of flat cake and porridge ;
or if a debtor refuses to repay the money that he
has borrowed, declaring that the signatures are false,
and the document null and void : I shall have to wait
for the time of year when the whole world begin
their suits, and even then there will be a thousand
wearisome delays. So often does it happen that when
only the benches have been set out — when the elo-
quent Caecilius is taking off his cloak, and Fuscus
has gone out for a moment — though everything is
ready, we disperse, and fight our battle after the
dilatory fashion of the courts. But the gentlemen
who are armed and belted have their cases set down
for whatever time they please ; nor is their substance
worn away by the slow drag-chain of the law.
51 Soldiers alone, again, have the right to make
their wills during their fathers' lifetime ; for the
law ordains that money earned in military service
S°5
IVVENALIS SATVRA XVI
militiae, placuit non esse in corpore census,
omne tenet cuius regimen pater, ergo Coranum
signorum comitem castrorumque aera merentem 55
quamvis iam tremulus captat pater ; hunc favor
aequus
provehit et pulchro reddit sua dona labori.
ipsius certe ducis hoc referre videtur
ut qui fortis erit, sit felicissimus idem,
ut laeti phaieris omnes et torquibus, omnes 60
306
JUVENAL, SATIRE XVI
is not to be included in the property which is in
the father's sole control. This is why Coranus, who
follows the standards and earns soldier's pay, is
courted by his own father, though now tottering
from old age. The son receives the advancement
that is his due, and reaps the recompense for his
own good services. And indeed it is the interest
of the General that the most brave should also be
the most fortunate, and that all should have medals
and necklets to be proud of.
The Satire breaks off here.
307
x 2
THE SATIRES OF PERSIUS
PERSI SATVRAE
PROLOGVS
Nec fonte labra proiui caballino
nee in bicipiti somniasse Parnaso
memini, ut repente sic poeta prodirem.
Heliconidasque pallidamque Pivenen
illis remittor quorum imagines lambunt 5
hederae sequaces : ipse semipaganus
ad sacra vatum carmen adfero nostrum,
quis expedivit psittaco suum chaere,
picamque docuit verba nostra conari ?
magister artis ingenique largitor 10
venter, negatas artifex sequi voces ;
quod si dolosi spes refulserit nummi,
corvos poetas et poetridas picas
cantare credas Pegaseium nectar.
1 The inspiring spring Hippocrene, struck out by the
hoof of Pegasus, on the top of Mt. Helicon.
2 i.e. the Muses.
3 Pirene also was an inspiring spring near Corinth, called
' ' pale " because poets were supposed to become pale from
study.
3^0
THE SATIRES OF PERSIUS
THE PROLOGUE
I never soused my lips in the Nag's Spring;1
never, that I can remember, did I dream on the
two-topped Parnasus, that I should thus come forth
suddenly as a poet. The maidens2 of Mount
Helicon, and the blanching waters of Pirene,3 I
give up to the gentlemen round whose busts the
clinging ivy 4 twines ; it is but as a half-member 5 of
the community that I bring my lay to the holy feast
of the bards. Who made it so easy for the parrot
to chirp his "good morrow"?6 Who taught the
magpie to ape the language of man ? It was that
master of the arts, that dispenser of genius, the
Belly, who has a rare skill in getting at words which
are not his own. If only the enticing hope of money
were to flash upon them, you would believe that
raven poets and magpie poetesses were singing the
pure nectar of the muses.
4 The busts of poets were crowned with chaplets of ivy :
doctarum hederae praemia frontium, Hor. Od. I. i. 29.
5 Referring to the feast of the Paganalia common to all
pagani, i.e. members of the village community (pagus).
Persius calls himself a half-outsider as compared with pro-
fessional poets. 6 i.e the Greek xa~lPe-
3'1
SUMMARY OF SATIRE I
This whole satire is an attack on the corruption of
literature and literary taste in Rome, as a sign and
accompaniment of a similar corruption in morals.
The poem takes the form of a dialogue between
Persius and a Friend. Persius recites a line (possibly
from Lucilius) which looks like the beginning of a
poem. " Who will read stuff like that ? " asks the
Friend. "Well/' says Persius, "what does that mat-
ter ! The opinion of thick-headed Rome isn't worth
a d — n ! If only I could say what I think ! But
when I look at our gloomy way of living, and our
affectation of morality, I feel that I must have my
laugh out (1-12). Just look at the foppery and
ostentation of our public recitations, and the licen-
tious character of the things recited " (13-23).
F. " But surely you must allow our young poets to
show their learning and give their genius a vent?"
(24-25).
P. " Learning, indeed ! as if knowledge were of no
use unless other people know that you possess it ! "
(26-27).
F. "But you cannot deny the charm of being
praised and of hearing people say 'That's the
man ! ' " (28-30).
P. " And what kind of praise do they win ? Listen
to the mawkish stuff poured forth at dinner tables,
and the applause given to it by the well-filled guests.
How grand and soul-sufficing ! " (30-40).
312
SUMMARY OF SATIRE I
F. " You are very nasty with your gibes. Do you
suppose that any one is so indifferent to fame that
he would not care to be ranked among the immor-
tals ? " (40-43).
P. " Certainly not. I value praise justly bestowed
as much as any man ; but I decline to accept the ver-
dict of guests whose favour has been secured by gifts
of old clothing and good viands. You say you want
the truth ? then let me tell it you : you are a mere
twaddler, happy only in this that, unlike Janus, you
cannot see the gibes made at you behind your
back " (44-62).
F. " Anyhow the public are enchanted. Never,
they say, did poets write more smoothly and correctly,
or handle great themes more nobly" (63-68).
P. " Yes, indeed ! To-day we find heroic themes
attempted by men who cannot describe the simplest
scenes of country life Avithout committing absurdities.
Others have a mania for archaisms ; and what can
be more artificial than our rhetoric? An advocate
cannot defend a man on his trial for some crime
without using all the embellishments of the schools !
He is like the shipwrecked mariner who appeals to
you by a song" (69-91).
F. " But you will at least grant that our modern
Muse has grace and polish ? " (92).
P. " Grace and polish indeed ! Let me quote
some instances of your modern polish . . . What would
Virgil have said of turgid and frothy stuff like that ?
Now please give me some instances of the tender
languishing style " (93-98).
(Then follow four lines of furious magniloquent
bombast, quoted admiringly by P.'s interlocutor
(99-102).)
3J3
SUMMARY OF SATIRE I
P. "Whew! what nerveless sputtering trash!
Not one sign there of real honest work ! "
(103-106).
F. " But why vex delicate ears with biting truths
like these ? See that the doors of your great friends
are not closed to you after this. Beware of the
dog!" (107-110).
P. "Well! Well! Have your way. Put up a
notice — ' No nuisance here/ and I'll be off. But Lu-
cilius had his say out, sparing no man ; Horace spoke
out his mind with well-spiced pleasantry ; and am I to
keep my mouth shut ? am I not to divulge my secret
to any one, not even to a ditch ? Nay, here is a ditch,
and I will dig it in: f All the world are fools.' This
little secret joke of mine I will not sell you for all
your Iliads! "(110-1 23).
" No : let me have for hearers all you that have
drawn an inspiring breath from Cratinus, and Eupolis,
and the Grand Old Man ; I care not for the fry
that love to vent their wit upon the slippers of the
Greeks, nor for the puffed-up local magnate who
jeers at a one-eyed man, nor for the man who flouts
philosophers and thinks it a fine joke to see a saucy
wench pluck a cynic by the beard. Let these enjoy
the pleasures they deserve ! " (123-134).
The first satire of Persius seems to have furnished
a pattern for the first satire of Juvenal. In each
case the poet begins by an attack on the character
of his own age, Persius laying stress upon the cor-
ruption of literature, Juvenal upon that of morals as
a whole. In each case a friend warns the poet of
the dangers of such an attack. Both poets justify
themselves by the example of Lucilius, and his free-
3'4
SUMMARY OF SATIRE
spoken attacks upon his contemporaries. Persius
rejects all appeal to the depraved opinion of his own
time, and asks for readers who have caught the spirit
of the masters of the old Greek comedy ; Juvenal
promises to spare the living and to confine his
attacks to the dead.
3*5
SATVRA I
"0 curas hominum, o quantum est in rebus inane ! "
"quis leget haec ? " "min tu istud ais ? nemo her-
cule." (fnemo?"
"vel duo vel nemo.'' "turpe et miserabile!"
" quare ?
ne mihi Polydamas et Troiades Labeonem
praetulerint ? nugae. non, si quid turbida Roma 5
elevet, accedas examenque improbum in ilia
castiges trutina, nee te quaesiveris extra,
nam Romae l quis non — ah, si fas dicere — sed fas
tunc cum ad canitiem et nostrum istud vivere2 triste
aspexi ac nucibus facimus quaecumque relictis, 10
cum sapimus patruos ; tunc tunc ignoscite ; (nolo :
quid faciam ? sed sum petulanti splene) cachinno.
1 The MSS. read Romae est or Romaest for Romae, and
ae for a or ah.
2 The use of the Infinitive as a Noun is a special charac-
teristic of Persius. So scire tuum (1. 27), ridere meum (1. 122),
pap-pare minutum (iii. 17), etc.
1 Polydamas is from Homer (7Z. xxii. 104-5). Polydamas
and the high-born Roman ladies are supposed to represent
the opinions of the respectable Mrs. Grundys of the day.
Attius Labeo was a poor poet of the time, said to have trans-
lated Homer.
316
SATIRE I
P. " O the vanity of mankind ! How vast the
void in human affairs ! "
F. " Who will read stuff like that ? "
P. " Is it to me you are speaking ? Not a soul,
by Hercules."
F. "What? nobody?"
P. " One or two perhaps or nobody."
F. " What a poor and lamentable result ! "
P. « Why that ? Are you afraid that Polydamas
and his Trojan ladies 1 will put Labeo above me ?
Stuff and nonsense ! And if thick-headed Rome
does disparage anything, don't you go and put
right the tongue in that false balance of theirs ;
look to no one outside yourself. For who is there
in Rome who is not 2 — oh, if only I might say my
secret! — and yet say it I must, when I look at
these gray heads of ours, and our gloomy ways of
living, and indeed everything that we have been
doing since the days when we gave up our marbles,
and put on the wise airs of uncles. So please
forgive me ! I would rather not say it — but what
else can I do ? — I have a wayward wit and must
have my laugh out.
2 The secret is that ever}' one is an ass, see 1. 121. For
the passage 8-12 I follow the punctuation and explanation
given by Professor Housman {C.Q. Jan. 1913). Cachinno is a
verb, "I laugh"; it has been commonly taken as a substan-
tive (" a laugher "), but for this there is no authority.
317
PERSI SATVRA I
" Scribimus inclusi, numeros ille, hie pede liber,
grande aliquid, quod pulmo animae praelargus anhelet.
scilicet haec populo pexusque togaque recenti 15
et natalicia tandem cum sardonyche albus
sede leges celsa, liquido cum plasmate guttur
mobile conlueris, patranti fractus ocello.
tunc neque more probo videas nee voce serena
ingentis trepidare Titos, cum carmina lumbum 20
intrant et tremulo scalpuntur ubi intima versu.
tun, vetule, auriculis alienis colligis escas,
auriculis,1 quibus et dicas cute perditus f ohe ' ? "
" quo didicisse, nisi hoc fermentum et quae semel intus
innata est rupto iecore exierit caprificus? 25
en pallor seniumque ! " " o mores, usque adeone
scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter ? "
"at pulchrum est digito monstrari et dicier <hic est' ;
ten cirratorum centum dictata fuisse
pro nihilo pendes ? " 2 " ecce inter pocula quaerunt 30
1 Professor Housman adopts Madvig's conjecture of
articulis for auriculis, and translates "What? catering at
your age for others' ears with cates which yon, disabled with
gout and dropsy, must forgo?" (Classical Quarterly, Jan.
1913, p. 14. Subsequent references to Professor Housman
are to be found in this article.) 2 pendas aP2.
1 Titos for Titienses, one of the three original Roman
tribes, ironically applied to those who prided themselves on
their ancient Roman descent. Similarly used are Troiades
in 1. 4, Bomulidae, 1. 31, and Bhamnes in Hor. A. P. 342.
2 The ferment of poetic inspiration longing for a vent is
3l8
PERSIUS, SATIRE I
13 -.< We shut ourselves up and write something
grand — one in verse, one in prose— something that
will take a vast amount of breath to pant out. This
stuff you will some day read aloud to the public,
having first lubricated your throat with an emollient
wash ; you will take your seat on a high chair, well
combed, in a new white robe, and with a rakish leer
in your eye, not forgetting a birthday sardonyx gem
on your finger. Thereupon, as the thrilling strains
make their way into the loins, and tickle the inward
parts, you may see the burly sons of Rome,1 quiver-
ing in no seemly fashion, and uttering no seemly
words. What, you old reprobate? Do you cater
for other people's wanton ears ? — ears to which,
however hardened your hide, you might fain cry
'hold, enough!' "
F. "But what avail study and learning if the
yeast, and the Avild fig-tree2 which has sprung up
within, are never to break through the bosom and
come forth ? See our pallid cheeks and aged looks ! " 3
P. " Good heavens ! Is all your knowledge to
go so utterly for nothing unless other people know
that you possess it ? "
F. " O but it is a fine thing to have a finger pointed
at one, and to hear people say, f That's the man ' '
Would you yourself deem it of no account to have
been conned as a task by a hundred curly-headed
urchins? "
P. " See, now, the sons of Romulus, having well
compared to the sturdy shoot of the wild fig-tree, which finds
its way through masonry and dislodges even solid stones
(Juv. x. 143).
3 These words refer to the canities, etc., ridiculed in 1. 9
which the Friend accounts for by the hard work of the poet!
Some give these words to Persius, with an ironical meaning.'
3*9
PERSI SATVRA I
Romulidae saturi, quid dia poemata narrent ;
hie aliquis, cui circum umeros hyacinthina laena est,
rancidulum quiddam balba de nare locutus
Phyllidas, Hypsipylas, vatum et plorabile siquid,
eliquat ac tenero subplantat verba palato. 35
adsensere viri : nunc non cinis ille poetae
felix ? non levior cippus nunc inprimit ossa ?
laudant convivae : nunc non e manibus illis,
nunc non e tumulo fortunataque favilla
nascentur violae ?" "rides," ait, "et nimis uncis 40
naribus indulges, an erit qui velle recuset
os populi meruisse et cedro digna locutus
linquere nee scombros metuentia carmina nee tus?"
"Quisquis es, o modo quern ex adverso dicere feci,
non ego cum scribo, si forte quid aptius exit, 45
quando haec rara avis est, si quid taraen aptius exit,
laudari metuam ; neque enim mihi cornea fibra est.
sed recti finemque extremumque esse recuso
feuge' tuum et 'belle.' nam ' belle' hoc excutetotum:
quid non intus habet ? non hie est Ilias Atti 50
ebria veratro ? non siqua elegidia crudi
dictarunt proceres ? non quidquid denique lectis
scribitur in citreis ? calidum scis' ponere sumen,
scis comitem horridulum trita donare lacerna,
1 i.e. some sentimental ditty taken from heroic times;
there may be an allusion to the Heroides of Ovid.
2 Referring to the simple prayer often inscribed over tht
ashes of the dead, sit tibi terra levis (S.T.T.L.).
3 A clear imitation of Cat. xcv. 7, and Hor. Epp. II. i. 269,
alluding to the uses of waste paper.
4 No doubt the Attius Labeo of 1. 4.
320
PERSIUS, SATIRE I
dined, are asking over their cups, * What lias divine
poesy to say'? Whereupon some fellow with a
purple mantle round his shoulders lisps out with a
snuffle some insipid trash about a Phyllis or a
Hypsipyle l or some other dolorous poetic theme,
mincing his words, and letting them trip daintily
over his palate. The great men signify their ap-
proval; will notyour poet's ashes be happy now?
will not the grave-stone press more lightly upon his
bones ? 2 The lesser guests chime in with their
assent : will not violets now spring up from those re-
mains, from the tomb and its thrice-blessed ashes ? "
F. "You are scoffing, and use your turned-up
nose too freely. Do you mean to tell me that any
man who has uttered words worthy of cedar oil
will disown the wish to have earned a place in the
mouths of men, and to leave behind him poems that
will have nothing to fear from mackerel or from
spice ? " 3
44 p « Well, my friend, whoever you are whom I
have set up to speak on the opposing side, I am the
last man, if by chance when writing I let fall some-
thing good (rare bird as that would be), I am the last
man, I say, to be afraid of praise. My heart is not
made of horn ! But I decline to admit that the final
and supreme test of excellence is to be found in your
' Bravo ! ' and your •' Beautiful ! ' Just sift out all
those 'Bravos': what do they not contain? Will
you not find there the bedrugged Iliad of Attius,4
and all the love-ditties spouted by your grandees
while digesting their dinners — all the stuff in short
that is scribbled on couches of citron-wood ? You
know how to serve up a sow's paunch piping hot :
you know how to present a shivering client with a
321
PERSI SATVRA I
et < verum ' inquis f amo, verum mihi dicite de me.' 55
qui pote ? vis dicam ? nugaris, cum tibi, calve,
pinguis aqualiculus propenso1 sesquipede extet.
o lane, a tergo quern nulla ciconia pinsit,
nee manus auriculas imitari mobilis albas,
riec linguae quantum sitiat canis Apula tantum ! 2 60
vos, o patricius sanguis, quos vivere fas est
occipiti caeco, posticae occurrite sannae.
quis populi sermo est ? " " quis enim, nisi carmina
molli
nunc demum numero fluere, ut per leve severos
effundat iunctura ungues ? scit tendere versurn 65
non secus ac si oculo rubricam derigat uno.
sive opus in mores, in luxum, in prandia regum
dicere, res grandes nostro dat Musa poetae."
" ecce modo heroas sensus adferre videmus 3
nugari solitos graece, nee ponere lucum 70
artifices nee rus saturum laudare, ubi corbes
et focus et porci et fumosa Palilia faeno,
unde Remus sulcoque terens dentalia, Quinti.
1 propenso PA2L : protenso E : protenlo Prise.
2 tantum L2 : tante EPL1.
s videmus ABP2 : docemus EP1.
i
These lines, again, are closely imitated from Hor. Epp. I.
K *' Janus, having two faces [bifrons), could not be ridiculed
from behind. , . .
3 A metaphor from the art of the sculptor, who passes his
nail along the surface to make sure that there is no inequality.
4 The Palilia or Parilia were celebrated on the 21st of
322
PERSIUS, SATIRE I
threadbare cloak,1 and then you say, 'I love the
Truth; tell me the truth about myself!' How
can the man do that ? Would you like me to tell
you the truth ? You are just a fool, you old bald-
pate, with that pot-belly of yours sticking out a foot
and a half in front of you ! O happy Janus, who
cannot be pecked at from behind by a stork, nor
mocked by a hand nimble at mimicking white
donkey-ears ; at whom no tongue can be thrust out
as far as that of a thirsty Apulian hound ! O ye
blue-blooded patricians, you who have to live without
eyes in the back of your head, turn round and face
the gibing in your rear ! 2 And what does the town
say ? "
F. « Why what else but this— that now at last we
have verses flowing smoothly along, so that the
critical nail 3 glides unjarred over the joinings. Our
poet knows how to draw his lines as straight as if
he were directing a ruddle cord with one eye shut.
Whatever be his theme : whether it be the morals
and luxury of the times, or the banquets of the great,
the Muse furnishes him with the lofty style."
P. " Yes ; and so we now see heroics produced
by men who have been used to trifle over Greek
verses — men who have not art enough to describe
a grove, or commend the abundance of country
life, with its baskets and its hearths, with its pigs
and the smoking hay-heaps of the Palilia ; 4 out
of which emerges Remus, and thou, Cincinnatus,5
polishing thy share-beam against the furrow, and
April, the supposed birthday of Rome. Part of the ceremony
or sport of the day was to jump over burning heaps of hay.
5 L. Quintus Cincinnatus. Alluding to the well-known
story of his being saluted as Dictator on coming home from
the plough.
323
Y 2
PERSI SATVRA I
cum x trepida ante boves dictatorem induit uxor
et tua aratra domum lictor tulit : euge poeta ! 75
est nunc Brisaei quern venosus liber Acci,
sunt quos Pacuviusque et verrucosa moretur
Antiopa, aerumnis cor luctificabile fulta.
hos pueris monitus patres infundere lippos
cum videas, quaerisne unde haec sartago loquendi 80
venerit in linguas, unde istud dedecus, in quo
trossulus exultat tibi per subsellia levis ?
" Nilne pudet capiti non posse pericula cano
pellere, quin tepidum hoc optes audire ' decenter' ?
' fur es/ ait PediO. Pedius quid ? crimina rasis 85
librat in antithetis, doctas posuisse figuras
laudatur : ' bellum hoc' hoc bellum ? an, Romule,
ceves ?
men moveat ? quippe et, cantet si naufragus, assem
protulerim ? cantas, cum fracta te in trabe pictum
ex umero portes ? verum, nee nocte paratum, 90
plorabit qui me volet incurvasse querella."
" Sed numeris decor est et iunctura addita crudis.
1 cum P1 : quern EaP2L.
i Brisaeus is an epithet of Bacchus, used here (like venoms
and verrucosus) to indicate the poet's style. Line >8 is ap-
parently a parody of a line in the Antlope of Pacuvius, in
which he is said to have imitated Euripides.
2 These were the greatest of the early poets of home, after
Ennius. Both wrote tragedies. Pacuvius was born about
b.c. 220, Accius (or Attius) in B.C. 170. Horace speaks oi
324
PERSIUS, SATIRE 1
then thy wife in a flurry arraying thee as Dictator
before the oxen, while the lictor drives home the
plough ! Bravo, bravo ! Mr. Poet ! One man pores
over the dried-up tome of the Bacchanalian1 Accius;2
others dwell lovingly on the warty Antiope of Pacu-
vius,2 ' her dolorific heart buttressed up with woes.'
When you see blear-eyed sires pouring lessons like
these into their children's eai*s, can you ask whence
has come this farrago of language into their tongues ?
or whence came those shameless ditties which put
your smooth-faced sprigs of nobility into a tremble
of ecstasy on the benches ?
83 " Are you not ashamed to be unable to ward off
danger from some hoary head without wishing to
hear some trifling word of commendation ? ' You
are a thief!' says the accused to Pedius : how does
Pedius 3 reply ? He balances the charges against
each other in smooth antitheses, and Is praised for
his artistic tropes : f How fine ! ' they say. What,
Romulus ? Do you call that fine ? Or are you
just losing your virility ? Shall I be touched, think
you, and pull a penny out of my pocket because a
ship-wrecked mariner sings a song ? You sing, do
you, when you carry on your shoulder a picture
of yourself, squatting on a broken plank ? No, no .
the man who wishes to -bend me with his tale of
woe must shed true tears — not tears that have been
got ready overnight.'p — ="
92 F. " But you will admit, anyhow, that grace and
polish have been added to the uncouth measures of
them with more respect than Persius : aufert = Pacuvius docti
famam senis, Accius alti {Epp. n. i. 56).
3 The name " Pedius," as that of an advocate, seems taken
from Hor. Sat. I. x. 28, but there seems to be no reference
to the cause in which Pedius is there concerned.
325
PERSI SATVRA I
claudere sic versum didicit ' Berecyntius Attis,'
et ' qui caeruleum dirimebat Nerea delphin ' ;
sic 'costam longo subduximus Appennino.' ' 95
"■ arma virum ! nonne hoc spumosum et cortice
pingui,
ut ramale vetus vegrandi subere coctum ?
quidnam igitur tenerum et laxa cervice legendum ?"
" ' torva Mimalloneis implerunt cornua bombis/
et ' raptum vitulo caput ablatura superbo 100
Bassaris/ et ' lyncem Maenas flexura corymbis
euhion ingeminate reparabilis adsonat echo ! '
" haec fierent, si testiculi vena ulla paterni
viveret in nobis ? summa delumbe saliva
hoc natat in labris, et in udo est Maenas et Attis, 1 05
nee pluteum caedit nee demorsos sapit unguis."
"Sed quid opus teneras mordaci radere vero
auriculas ? vide sis ne maiorum tibi forte
limina frigescant : sonat hie de nare canina
littera." "per me equidem sint omnia protinus
alba; 110
nil moror : euge ! omnes, omnes bene, mirae eritis res !
1 These lines (93-5), admiringly quoted by the Friend,
seem to be invented or quoted to show the absurdities of
modern poetic diction.
* These four lines of furious bombast are said by the
Scholiast, apparently without any authority, to have formed
326
PERSIUS, SATIRE I
our sires. See how we have learnt to round off our
verses with ' Berecynthian Attis ' ; or ' the dolphin
which was cleaving the sky-blue Nereus ' ; or how
' we filched a rib off from the lengthy Apen-
nines ! l
P. " O shade of Virgil ! What is this but frothy
inflated stuff, like an old bough smothered under its
bloated bark ! Now give me something of the lan-
guishing kind ; something that should be recited with
a gentle bending of the neck."
F. "'They filled their savage horns with Mimal-
lonean boomings ' ; ' the Bassarid ready to tear off
the head of the prancing calf ; or, ' the Maenad,
about to rein the lynx with ivy-trails, redoubles
the Evian shout : responsive Echo gives back the
cry ! ' " 2
P. " What ? Would such things be written if one
drop of our fathers' manhood were still alive in our
veins? Your Maenad and your Attis are just mar-
rowless drivel, floating and spluttering on the lips,
on the top of the spittle : no banging of the desk
here, no biting of nails to the quick ! " 3
107 p "But why l'asp people's tender ears with
biting truths ? Take heed, I beseech you, that the
doorsteps of your great friends do not grow cool
towards you : don't you hear the snarl of a dog? "
P. " Well, well, have your way ; I will paint every-
thing white henceforth ! Bravo ! Bravo ! you shall
all be paragons of creation ! Will that please you ?
part of a poem by Nero. They are ridiculed both for their
grandiloquence in rhythm and for their crudities in expres-
sion. Line 99 is imitated from Catull. lxii. 264. Line 100 is
from Eur. Bacch. 743.
8 This line is obviously imitated from Hor. Sat. i. x. 70.
327
PERSI SATVRA I
hoc iuvat? 'hie' inquis 'veto quisquam faxit oletum.
pinge duos anguis : pueri, sacer est locus, extra
meite : discedo. secuit Lucilius urbem,
te Lupe, te Muci, et genuinum fregit in illis ; 115
omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico
tangit et admissus circum praecordia ludit,
callidus excusso populum suspendere naso :
men J muttire nefas ? nee clam ? nee cum scrobe ?
nusquam ?
hie tamen infodiam. vidi, vidi ipse, libelle : 120
auriculas asini qttis non habet ? hoc ego opertum,
hoc ridere meum, tam nil, nulla tibi vendo
Iliade. audaci quicumque adflate Cratino
iratum Eupolidem praegrandi cum sene palles,
aspice et haec, si forte aliquid decoctius audis. 125
inde vaporata lector mihi ferveat aure,
non hie qui in crepidas Graiorum ludere gestit
sordidus et lusco qui possit dicere 'lusce'
sese2 aliquem credens, Italo quod honore supinus
freserit heminas Arreti aedilis iniquas, 130
1 men P2 : me Biich. 2 sese aL : seque P.
1 On spots to be protected from defilement snakes were
painted up, as a warning, representing the genius loci.
3 C. Lucilius, the father of Roman Satire, and forerunner
of Horace, Persius, and Juvenal, was born in B.C. M8.
He wrote thirty books of Satires, and, living in days of
freedom, was unsparing in his attacks upon the follies of his
contemporaries. See Introd. pp. xliii sqq.
328
PERSIUS, SATIRE I
' No nuisance here/ you say ; paint up a couple
of snakes, my lads, and clear out ; the ground is holy,
and I'll be off." 1
" And yet Lucilius 2 flayed our city : he flayed you,
Lupus, and you, Mucius, and broke his jaw over you.
Horace, sly dog, worming his way playfully into the
vitals of his laughing friend, touches up his every
fault ; a rare hand he at flinging out his nose and
hanging the people on it ! 3 And may I not mutter
one word ? Not anywhere, to myself, nor even to a
ditch ? Yes — here will I dig it in. I have seen
the truth ; I have seen it with my own eyes, O my
book : Who is there who has not the ears of an ass ?
this dead secret of mine, this poor little joke, I will
not sell for all your Iliads !
" O all ye that have caught the bold breath of
Cratinus — ye who haye grown pale over the blasts
of Eupolis or of the Grand Old Man 4 — look here
too, if you have an ear for anything of the finer sort.
Let my reader be one whose ear has been cleansed
and kindled by such strains, not one of the baser
sort who loves to poke fun at the slippers of the
Greeks, and who could cry out ' Old one-eye ! ' to a
one-eyed man; nor yet one puffed up with his dignity
as a provincial aedile who deems himself some-
body because he has broken up short pint measures
3 This is Mr. Conington's excellent translation.
4 i.e. Aristophanes. These three poets, as recorded in the
famous lines of Horace, Sat. I. iv. 1 :
Eupolis atque Cratinus Aristophanesque poetae
Atque alii quorum Comoedia prisca virorum est,
constituted the great Triumvirate of the Old Comedy of
Greece. Cratinus was born in B.C. 519, Eupolis in 446, and
Aristophanes in 444.
329
PERSI SATVRA I
nee qui abaco numeros et secto in pulvere metas
scit risisse vafer, multum gaudere paratus,
si cynico barbam petulans nonaria vellat.
his mane edictunv, post prandia Calliroen do."
33°
PERSIUS, SATIRE I
at Arretium. Nor do I want a man who thinks it
funny to laugh at figures on a blackboard, or cones
traced in the sand, and is ready to scream with joy
if some saucy wench plucks a Cynic by the beard.
To such gentlemen I would commend the play-bill
in the morning, for the afternoon Calliroe." l
1 Some mawkish sentimental poem, of the kind satirised
above.
33'
SUMMARY OF SATIRE II
Persius takes advantage of the birthday of his
friend and fellow-pupil Plotius Macrinus to discourse
on the folly of the prayers usually offered to the
Gods (1-7). Men pray openly for worthy objects;
they pray secretly for money, for inheritances, for
the death of all who stand in their way, besieging
Jupiter with petitions at which any ordinary citizen
would stand aghast (8-30). Old women offer the
most silly prayers on behalf of babes (31-40). One
man prays for health and strength, while raining his
constitution by rich living (41-43); another for
riches, while wasting his substance in costly sacrifices
(44-51). Thirsting ourselves for gold, we believe
the gods must love it also : we overlay their images
with gold and use gold vessels in their service in
place of the delf of Numa (52-60). O fools and
o-rovellers! Why measure the Gods by our own
fleshly lusts, and by our own joy in gratifying them ?
Nay, rather let us approach them with clean hands
and a pure heart, and the homeliest offerings will
win their favour (61-75).
333
SATVRA II
Hunc, Macrine, diem numera meliore lapillo,
qui tibi labentis apponit candidus annos.
funde merum Genio. non tu prece poscis emaci
quae nisi seductis nequeas committere divis.
at bona pars procerum tacita libabit 1 acerra ; 5
haut cuivis promptum est murmurque humilesque
susurros
tollere de templis et aperto vivere voto.
w mens bona, fama, fides " haec clare et ut audiat
hospes ;
ilia sibi introrsum et sub lingua murmurat : " o si
ebulliat patruus, praeelarum funus ! " et " o si 10
sub rastro crepet argenti mihi seria dextro
Hercule! pupillumve utinam, quem proximus heres
inpelloj expungam ! namque est2 scabiosus et acri
bile tumet. Nerio iam tertia conditur 3 uxor ! "
haec sancte ut poscas, Tiberino in gurgite mergis 15
mane caput bis terque et noctem flumine purgas?
1 libavit P. 2 namque est P2 : nam est P1 : nam et est aL.
3 ducitur Servius ap. Virg. Geo. iv. 256 ; vulgo conditur.
1 Lines 8-11 are a close imitation of Hor. Epp. T. xvi. 59-62.
2 Apparently a slang expression like " going off the hooks "
or " kicking the bucket."
J Hercules is the god of windfalls or unexpected gain.
334
SATIRE II
Set the whitest of white stones, Macrinus, to
mark this bright day that places the gliding years
to your account ! Pour out libations to your Genius !
You are not the man to utter a huckster's prayer,
such as you could only entrust to the gods in privacy.
Most of our great men offer their libations from
censers that divulge no secrets : it is not every man
that is ready to make away with mutterings and
whisperings from the temples, and to offer prayers
such as all men may hear.1 "A sound mind," "a
fair name," "good credit" — such prayers a man
utters aloud, and in a stranger's hearing — the rest
he mutters to himself, under his breath : " O if only
my uncle would go off! 2 what a fine funeral I would
give him ! " or " if only favouring Hercules 3 would
cause a crock of silver to grate against my harrow ! "
or "if only I could wipe out that ward of mine who
stands next before me in the succession : for in-
deed he is scrofulous, and full of acrid humours."
" There's Nerius 4 (lucky dog !) burying his third
wife." Is it that you may put up prayers like these
with all due piety 5 that you dip your head every
morning twice and three times in the Tiber, wash-
ing off in his waters all the pollutions of the night?
4 Perhaps the usurer mentioned by Horace, Sat. n. iii. 69.
6 Sancte is emphatic. However unholy his prayers, he
hopes to keep on the right side of the gods, and so neglects
none of the proper religious observances. See Hor. Sat. II.
iii. 290-2, and Juv. vi. 523.
335
PERSI SATVRA II
Heus age, responde (minimum est quod scire
laboi-o) :
de love quid sentis ? estne ut praeponere cures
hunc — "cuinam?" cuinam ? visStaio? an scilicet
haeres ?
quis potior iudex puerisve quis aptior orbis ? 20
hoc igitur, quo tu Iovis aurem impellere temptas,
die agedum Staio : " pro Iuppiter ! o bone/' clamet,
" Iuppiter ! " at sese non clamet Iuppiter ipse ?
ignovisse putas, quia, cum tonat, ocius ilex
sulpure discutitur sacro quam tuque domusque ? 25
an quia non fibris ovium Ergennaque iubente
triste iaces lucis evitandumque bidental,
idcirco stolidam pi-aebet tibi vellere barbam
Iuppiter ? aut quidnam est qua tu mercede deorum
emeris auriculas ? pulmone et lactibus unctis ? 30
Ecce avia aut metuens divum matertera cunis
exemit puerum, frontemque atque uda labella
infami digito et lustralibus ante salivis
expiat, urentis oculos inhibere perita;
tunc manibus quatit et spem macram supplice voto 35
1 Staius is taken as a representative of an average respect-
able citizen.
2 An obviously Etruscan name. Etruria was famous for its
soothsayers.
3 Bidental is properly a spot struck by lightning, purified
or consecrated by the sacrifice of a bidens (a two-year-old
victim), and enclosed with a fence. Such spots were of
evil omen. Here the bidental stands for the body of the
man killed by lightning.
336
PERSIUS, SATIRE II
17 Come now, answer me this question : it is a very
little thing that I want to know ; What is your
ppinion of Jupiter? Would you rank him above —
* Above whom?" — Above whom, you ask? Well,
shall we say Staius ? 1 or do you stick at that?
Could you name a more upright judge than
Staius; or one more fitted to be a guardian to an
orphan family? Well then, just whisper to Staius
the prayer with which you would impress the ear of
Jupiter: — "O gracious Jupiter! " he would cry, "O
Jupiter ! " And will not Jupiter call upon himself,
think you ? Do you imagine that he has condoned
everything because, when it thunders, the sacred
fire rends an oak-tree in twain sooner than you
and your house ? Or because you are not lying in
a grove, at the bidding of Ergenna 2 and a sheep's
liver, an accursed and abhorred object,3 will Jupiter
therefore offer you his foolish beard to pluck ? And
what is the price by which you have purchased a
kindly hearing from the gods ? Is it a dish of lights
and greasy entrails ? 4
31 See how a granny, or an auntie who fears
the gods, takes baby out of his cradle : 5 skilled in
averting the evil eye, she first, with her middle
finger, applies the charm of lustrous spittle 6 to his
forehead and slobbering lips ; she then dandles the
wizened Hopeful 7 in her arms, and destines him in
4 Persius and Juvenal are continually ridiculing the offering
of exta to the gods (Juv. x. 354, xiii. 115).
5 This passage bears a close resemblance to Juv. x. 289 foil.
6 Various were the virtues of saliva, especially in magical
and semi-magical ceremonies. See Pliny, H.N. xxviii. 4, 22.
It was especially efficacious against the evil eye.
7 The contemptuous epithet heightens the contrast. Pro-
fessor Housman takes spem to mean simply hope ; hope lean
and hungry, and therefore insatiable.
337
PERSI SATVRA II
nunc Licini in campos, nunc Crassi mittit in aedis :
"hunc optent generum rex et regina ; puellae
hunc rapiant ; quidquid calcaverit hie, rosa fiat."
ast ego nutrici non mando vota ; negato,
Iuppiter, haec illi, quamvis te albata rogarit ! 1 40
Poscis opem nervis corpusque fidele senectae.
esto, age"; sed grandes patinae tuccetaque crassa
adnuere his superos vetuere Iovemque morantur.
Rem struere exoptas caeso bove Mercuriumque
accersis fibra : " da fortunare penatis, 45
da pecus et gregibus fetum ! " quo pessime, pacto,
tot tibi cum in flammis 2 iunicum omenta liquescant ?
et tamen hie extis et opimo vincere ferto
intendit : ' ' iam crescit ager, iam crescit ovile,
iam dabitur, iam iam"— donee deceptus et exspes 50
nequiquam fundo suspiret nummus in imo.
Si tibi crateras argenti incusaque pingui
auro dona feram, sudes et pectore laevo
excutiat guttas laetari praetrepidum cor.
hinc illud subiit, auro sacras quod ovato 55
perducis facies ; nam fratres inter aenos
i rogarit P : rogabit aL. 2 flammas aL.
i Both men of proverbial wealth. Crassus was the Triumvir
slain at the battle of Carrhae B.C. 53; Licinus was an en-
franchised slave of Caesar who became Procurator of Gaul.
See Juv. i. 109 and Mayor's note.
* Mercury also (mtrx) was the god of gain. _
3 Several fanciful interpretations have been given of this
phrase. The "brazen brotherhood" seems to refer to the
gods as a whole, whose statues were usually of bronze. If
338
PERSIUS, SATIRE II
her prayers to the domains of a LicinusJ or the
mansion of a Crassus ; l "May kings and queens
desire him for their daughter ! May the maidens
scramble for him ! May roses bloom wherever
he plants his foot ! "—No ! never shall prayer of
mine be committed to a nurse ; reject, O Jupiter,
her petition, though she be clothed in white to ask
it of thee !
41 You pray for strength of limb, and for a body
that shall not fail you in old age. Good ; but your
grand dishes and rich ragouts forbid the gods to
listen to you, and stay the hand of Jupiter.
44 Lusting for wealth, you slay an ox, and sum-
mon Mercury2 with a liver. "Grant that my
household gods may prosper me ! " you cry ; " grant
increase to my flocks and herds ! " But how can
that be, poor fool, when the fat of all those heifers
is melting away in the flames ? Yet on the fellow
goes, bent upon winning his wish with his entrails
and his rich cakes: — "I am now adding held to
field, and flock to flock," he cries, ever hoping and
hoping on, till at length his last coin, duped and
disappointed, heaves a vain sigh at the bottom of
his purse !
52 Were I to offer you cups of silver, or gifts
richly inlaid with gold, your heart would beat high
with joy, and drops of sweat would trickle from
your left breast. Hence your idea of overlaying the
faces of the gods with triumphal gold ; for you say,
" Let those among the brazen brothers 3 rank highest
any of these, says Persius ironically, send us dreams free
from gouty humours, they should be highly honoured
and given beards of gold. See Professor Housman, I.e. pp.
339
z 2
PERSI SATVRA II
somnia pituita qui purgatissima mittunt
praecipui sunto sitque illis aurea barba.
aurum vasa Numae Saturniaque impulit aera
Vestalesque urnas et Tuscum fictile mutat. 60
0 curvae in terris animae et caelestium inanis !
quid iuvat hoc, templis nostros immittere mores
et bona dis ex hac scelerata ducere pulpa ?
haec sibi corrupto casiam dissolvit olivo,
et Calabrum coxit vitiato murice vellus ; 65
haec bacam conchae rasisse et stringere venas
ferventis massae crudo de pulvere iussit.
peccat et haec, peccat, vitio tamen utitur. at vos
dicite, pontifices : in sancto quid facit aurum ?
nempe hoc quod Veneri donatae a virgine pupae. 70
quin damus id superis, de magna quod dare lance
non possit magni Messalae lippa propago :
compositum ius fasque animo sanctosque recessus
mentis et incoctum generoso pectus honesto.
haec cedo ut admoveam templis, et farre litabo. 75
1 The bronze vessels of the Saturnian age, with a possible
reference to the bronze coinage of early Rome.
2 cp. Juv. xi. 115. Fictilis et nullo violatus Iuppiier auro.
3 Just as boys dedicated the bulla on assuming the toga
virilis, so did maidens hang up their dolls to Venus on
attaining womanhood.
340
PERSIUS, SATIRE II
who send us dreams most free from gouty vapours,
and let their beards be all of gold ! Gold has now
ousted Numa's crockery, and the bronze vessels
of Saturn ; a it has supplanted the urns and Tuscan
pottery 2 of the Vestals.
61 O Souls bowed down to earth, and void of all
heavenly thoughts ! What avails it to bring our ideas
into the temples, and to infer from this sinful flesh
of ours what is pleasing to the gods ? It is the flesh
that has spoilt our oil by mingling it with casia, and
misused Tyrian purple for the soaking of Calabrian
fleeces ; it is this that has bidden us pluck the pearl
from the shell, and tear out the veins of shining ore
from the native clay. The flesh indeed sins, it
sins, and yet it gets profit from its sinning But
tell me this, ye priests, what avails gold inside the
sanctuary ? Just as much as the dolls 3 which maidens
dedicate to Venus ! Nay rather let us offer to the gods
what the blear-eyed progeny of the great Messala4
cannot give out of his lordly salver : — a heart rightly
attuned towards God and man ; a mind pure in its
inner depths, and a soul steeped in nobleness and
honour. Give me these to offer in the temples, and
a handful of corn shall win my prayer for me !
4 A degenerate descendant of the distinguished Messalae,
a family of the Valerian gens, with a possible reference to
L. Aurelius Cotta Messalinus, mentioned with contumely
by Tacitus {Ann. v. 3 and vi. 5).
34i
SUMMARY OF SATIRE III
Prof. Housman has well explained the difficulties
of this satire. Throughout its first sixty-two verses,
it is aimed at those who live amiss though they
know the right way; and the satirist takes himself
as a specimen of the class {Class. Quart. Jan. 1913,
pp. 26-28). Persius alternately acts the part of the
youth satirised (which explains the use of the first
person in stertimus, ftndor, querimur) and alternately
assumes the role of a monitor, expostulating with
the young man and trying to recall him to a sense
of the follies and wasted opportunities of his life
(1-43). Childish sports are suitable to the age of
childhood ; but when childhood is past, and know-
ledge has arrived, the serious purposes of life must
be faced (44-62).
From that point onwards the theme is more
general, being directed against those who have not
been illuminated by philosophy (63-118).
"What? still sleeping? Won't you be up and
doino-?" " How can I? won't somebody come to
help me ? My pen won't write, and the ink won't
mark" (1-14). Mere baby that you are! you are
running to waste; satisfied with your competency,
you're letting the precious moments slip, and will
soon be no better than Natta who has lost all sense
of right and wrong. What torture more horrible
than to feel that virtue has for ever passed out of
342
SUMMARY OF SATIRE III
your grasp? (15-43). As a child I too rejoiced in
childish games ; but you are no child, you have
studied philosophy, you know the difference between
the straight and the crooked ; yet here you are,
yawning off yesterday's debauch without a thought
for the ends which alone make life worth living !
(44-62).
The time will come when it will be too late to
mend ; be wise in time. Learn what you are, and
why you were brought here ; what is the true end
for man, and what are his duties : don't be envious
of the rich stores of your wealthy lawyer-neighbour
(63-76). At this no doubt some shaggy soldier will
burst into a guffaw and tell us that he doesn't care
a fig for all the philosophers in creation, with their
dull looks, their bent figures, their dismal mutterings
and old-wife dreamings that nothing can come out
of nothing, and nothing go back to nothing (77-87).
A man feels ill and consults his doctor, who orders
rest and abstinence. Feeling better after a few days,
he returns to his old habits, rejects scornfully the
warnings of friends, and bathes on a full stomach.
While drinking his wine, he is seized by a sudden
stroke, and is carried to the grave by citizens of
yesterday's making (88-106). You tell me you have
no illness, no fever in your pulse. But does not your
heart beat. high when you catch sight of money, or
when a pretty girl smiles sweetly on you ? Can you
put up with plain food? Not you! Cold at one
moment with fear, at another hot with wrath, you
say things and do things which Orestes himself
would declare were signs of madness C107-118).
343
SATVRA III
" Nempe haec adsidue ? iam clarum mane fenestras
intrat et angustas extendit lumine rimas ;
stertimus, indotnitum quod despumare Falernum
sufficiat, quinta dum linea tangitur umbra,
en quid agis ? siccas insana canicula messes 5
iam dudum coquit et patula pecus omne sub ulmo est"
unus ait comitum. " verumne ? itan ? ocius adsit
buc aliquis. nemon ? " turgescit vitrea bilis :
findor ut Arcadiae pecuaria rudere credas.
iam liber et positis bicolor membrana capillis 10
inque manus chartae nodosaque venit harundo ;
tunc querimur1 crassus calamo quod pendeat umor,
nigra set infusa vanescit2 sepia lympha ;
dilutas querimur geminet quod fistula guttas.
O miser inque dies ultra miser, hucine rerum 15
venimus ? aut cur non potius teneroque columbo
et similis regum pueris pappare minutum
poscis et iratus mammae lallare recusas ?
1 querimus a ; queritur L : qumritur P2.
2 vanescat aL.
344
SATIRE III
"What? Is this to go on for ever? Here is the
morning sun pouring in at your windows and
widening every chink with its beams. The shadow
is just touching the fifth line of the sundial and we
are snoring enough to work off that indomitable
Falernian ! What are you going to do ? The mad
Dog-star has long been drying and baking the crops ;
the cattle are all lying under the branching elms ! "
So speaks one of my young lord's friends.
7 "What now, really, is that so? Won't somebody
come quick ? What ? Nobody there ? " The glassy
bile swells big Avithin him. " I'm just splitting," he
shouts ; till you would think that all the herds of
Arcadia were setting up a bray. We now take up
our book, and the two-coloured parchment, well
cleansed of hair ; some paper too, and the knotty
reed-pen. Next we complain that the ink is thick
and clots upon the pen ; that when water is poured
in, the blackness disappears, and that the pen
sprinkles the diluted stufFin blots upon the paper.
15 Poor fool, and more of a fool every day ! Is this
the pass to which we have come ? Why not rather
go on like a pet dove, or like a child in some great
man's house that asks to have its food cut up small,
or refuses in a rage to listen to its mammy's lullaby?
345
PERSI SATVRA III
"An tali studeam calamo ?" cui verba ? quid istas
succinis ambages ? tibi luditur. effluis aniens, 20
contemnere : sonat vitium percussa maligne
respondet viridi non cocta fidelia limo.
udum et molle lutum es, nunc nunc properandus et acri
fingendus sine fine rota, sed ruve paterno
est tibi far modicum, purum et sine labe salinum 25
(quid metuas ?) cultrixque foci secura patella,
hoc satis ? an deceat pulmonem rumpere ventis,
stemmate quod Tusco ramum millesime ducis
censoremve tuum vel quod trabeate salutas ?
ad populum phaleras ! ego te intus et in cute novi. 30
non pudet ad morem discincti vivere Nattae ?
sed stupet hie vitio et fibris increvit opimum
pingue, caret culpa, nescit quid perdat, et alto
demersus summa rursus non bullit in unda.
Magne pater divum, saevos punire tyrannos 35
haut alia ratione velis, cum dira libido
moverit ingenium ferventi tincta veneno :
virtutem videant intabescantque relicta.
anne magis Siculi gemuerunt aera iuvenci,
et magis auratis pendens laquearibus ensis 40
1 This metaphor, taken from testing the soundness of a jar
by the ring, is repeated in v. 24.
2 Referring to the annual parade (transvtctio) of the
equites, clad in their purple robes of state (trabea), before
the Censor.
3 Peisius warns the youth that he is in danger of falling
into the lowest state of all, that of the incorrigible reprobate
who is dead to all moral feeling, and has to suffer, when too
346
PERSIUS, SATIRE III
i9 " But how can I work with a pen like this ? "
Whom will you deceive ? Why these whining
evasions ? The gamble is your own ; your brains are
oozing away, and you are becoming contemptible ;
formed of green and ill-baked earth,1 the jar rings
false when struck, and betrays the flaw. You are
moist and ductile clay ; what you need is to be taken in
hand from this instant, and moulded ceaselessly on
the swift-revolving wheel. But you have an ancestral
property, with a moderate crop of corn ; you have a
bright and spotless salt-cellar (nothing to fear, you
think), with an ample salver for the worship of the
hearth. What? Will that satisfy you ? Or are you
to puff out your lungs with pride because you come
of a Tuscan stock, yourself the thousandth in the
line ; or because on review days you salute your
Censor2 in a purple robe? To the mob with your
trappings!3 I know you within and on the skin.4
Are you not ashamed to live after the fashion of the
abandoned Natta ? a man deadened by vice, whose
heart is overlaid with brawn, who has no sense of sin,
no knowledge of what he is losing, and is sunk so
deep that he sends up no bubble to the surface?
35 O mighty Father of the gods ! Be it thy will
to punish cruel tyrants whose souls have been stirred
by the deadly poison of evil lust in no other way
but this — that they may look on Virtue, and pine
away because they have lost her! Did ever
brazen bull of Sicily 5 roar more frightfully ; did ever
sword hanging from gilded ceiling strike more terror
late, all the horrors of a guilty conscience (30-43). This
character corresponds to the cucSKaaros of Aristotle.
4 i.e. " closely." cf. eV XPV'
6 In allusion to the brazen bull of Phalaris, tyrant of
Agrigentum. See the parallel passage in Juv. viii. 81-82.
347
PERSI SATVRA III
purpureas subter cervices terruit, " imus
imus praecipites " quam si sibi dicat et intus
palleat infelix quod proxima nesciat uxor ?
Saepe oculos, memini, tangebam parvus olivo,
grandia si nollem morituri verba Catonis 45
dicere1 non sano multum laudanda magistro,
quae pater adductis sudans audiret amicis.
iure etenim id summum, quid dexter senio ferret
scire erat in voto, damnosa canicula quantum
raderet, angustae collo non fallier orcae, 50
neu quis callidior buxum torquere flagello.
Haut tibi inexpertum curvos deprendere mores,
quaeque docet sapiens bracatis inlita Medis
porticus, insomnis quibus et detonsa iuventus
invigilat siliquis et grandi pasta polenta ; 55
et tibi, quae Samios diduxit2 littera ramos,
surgentem dextro monstravit limite callem ;3
stertis adhuc ? laxumque caput conpage soluta
1 dicere P : discere aL. * deduxit PaL.
3 callem P2LA2 : collem P'a.
1 An obvious reminiscence of Horace, Od. in. i. 17-18.
2 In playing with the tesserae, cubes like our dice, the
highest throw (called " Venus," or jactus venereus) was the
senio, when all the dice turned up sixes. The lowest throw
was when all came out singles (uniones) : that was called
canis, or, as here, canicula.
3 " Straight " and " crooked " (or"curved") are naturally
applied to denote "good" and "bad" respectively. Simi-
larly our word "right" is derived from rectus, and " de-
praved " from pravus, "crooked." cf. "the crooked shall be
made straight, and the rough places plain " (Isaiah xl. 4).
348
PERSIUS, SATIRE III
into the purple necks below,1 than for a man to say
to himself, " I am falling, falling to ruin," and to
turn pale, poor wretch, for a misdeed which the wife
of his bosom may not know ?
44 I used often, 1 remember, as a boy to smear my
eyes with oil if I did not want to recite the noble
speech of the dying Cato — a speech which would be
much applauded by my idiot of a master, and that
to which my father, sweating with delight, would have
to listen with his invited friends. And very right
too : for in those days it was my highest ambition to
know how much the lucky sice 2 would bring me,
how much the ruinous ace would carry off; not to
be baffled by the narrow neck of the jar, and not to
be outdone by anyone in whipping the boxwood top.
62 But you have learnt how to distinguish the
crooked from the straight ; 3 you have studied the
doctrines of the learned Porch, daubed over with
trousered Medes : 4 those doctrines over which a
sleepless and close-cropped youth, fed on beans and
grand messes of porridge, nightly pores; and the
letter which spreads out into Pythagorean branches
has pointed out to you the steep path which rises on
the right.5 And are you snoring still ? yawning off
4 Referring to the iroiKi\i) aroi., or Painted Portico, in
which Zeiio, the founder of the Stoics, taught. It was
adorned with pictures, one of which represented the battle
of Marathon, with Persians in their native dress.
8 Pythagoras of Samos is said to have depicted the
"Choice of Life" under the form of the Greek letter T,
which was originally written with a straight stem, <-|. The
straight stem represents the period of indeterminate child-
hood ; the branching ways represent the moment when the
choice of life has to be made. The steep path to the right
is the path of virtue ; the sloping path to the left that of
vice and pleasure.
349
PERSI SATVRA III
oscitat hesternum dissutis undique malis ?
est aliquid quo tendis, et in quod derigis1 arcum ? 60
an passim sequeris corvos testaque lutoque,
securus quo pes ferat, atque ex tempore vivis ?
Elleborum frustra, cum iam cutis aegra tumebit,
poscentis videas : venienti occurrite morbo,
et quid opus Cratero magnos promittere montis ? 65
discite et, o miseri, causas cognoscite rerum :
quid sumus et quidnam victuri gignimur, ordo
quis datus aut metae qua mollis flexus et unde,
quis modus argento, quid fas optare, quid asper
utile nummus liabet, patriae carisque propinquis 70
quantum elargiri deceat, quern te deus esse
iussit et humana qua parte locatus es in re ;
disce, nee invideas quod multa fidelia putet
in locuplete penu defensis pinguibus Vmbris,
et piper et pernae, Marsi monumenta cluentis,2 75
maenaque quod prima nondum defecerit orca.
Hie aliquis de gente hircosa centurionum
dicat : " quod sapio, satis est mihi. non ego euro
esse quod Arcesilas aerumnosique Solones
1 derigis A2 : dirigis P2 : dirigas P.
2 eluevtis P1 : clientis P2L.
1 The name of a doctor, taken from Hor. Sat. II. Hi. 161.
'2 i.e. what is the real and proper use of money.
3 Country clients seem generally to have paid their
lawyers' fees in kind. See the enumeration of such rural
gifts in Juv. vii. 119-121.
4 Nothing so moves the ire and contempt of the gentle
philosophic Persius as the ignorance and coarseness of the
brawny soldiery. See v. 189-191 ; also Juv. xvi. throughout.
350
PERSIUS, SATIRE III
the debauch of yesterday, with a head unhinged and
nodding, and jaws gaping from ear to ear? Have
you any goal in life ? Is there any target at which
you aim? Or are you just taking random shots at
ci-ows with clods and potsherds, not caring whither
your feet are taking you, and living from one mo-
ment to another ?
63 It is too late to call for hellebore when the skin
is already swollen and diseased ; meet the malady
on its way, and then what need to promise big
fees to Craterus ? l Come and learn, O miserable
souls, and be instructed in the causes of things :
learn what we are, and for what sort of lives we
were born ; what place was assigned to us at the
start ; how to round the turning-post gently, and
from what point to begin the turn ; what limit should
be placed on wealth ; what prayers may rightfully be
offered ; what good there is in fresh-minted coin ; 2
how much should be spent on country and on kin ;
what part God has oi-dered you to play, and at what
point of the human commonwealth you have been
stationed. Learn these things, and do not envy your
neighbour because he has many a jar going bad in a
larder well stored with gifts from the fat Umbrians 3
whom he has defended, or with the pepper and hams
that tell of grateful Marsian clients, or because the
pilchards in his first barrel have not yet come to an
end.
77 Here one of the unsavoury tribe of Centu-
rions 4 may say, " What I know is enough for me ; I
have no mind to be an Arcesilas,5 or one of your poor
5 Arcesilas, or Arcesilaus, a Greek philosopher of the
third century B.C., regarded as the founder of the Middle
Academy.
351
PERS1 SATVRA III
obstipo capite et figentes lumine terrain, 8C
murmura cum secum et rabiosa silentia rodunt
atque exporrecto trutinantur verba labello,
aegroti veteris meditantes somnia, gigni
de nihilo nihilum, in nihilum nil posse reverti.
hoc est quod palles? cur quis non prandeat hoc est?" 85
his populus ridet, multumque torosa iuventus
ingeminat tremulos naso crispante cachinnos.
" Inspice, nescio quid trepidat mihi pectus et aegris
faucibus exsuperat gravis halitus, inspice sodes "
qui dicit medico, iussus requiescere, postquam 90
tertia conpositas vidit nox currere venas,
de maiore domo modice sitiente lagoena
lenia loturo sibi Surrentina rogavit.1
"heus bone, tu palles." "nihil est." "videastamen
istuc,
quidquid id est : surgit tacite tibi lutea pellis." 95
" at tu deterius palles. ne sis mihi tutor,
iam pridem hunc sepeli : tu restas." " perge, tacebo."
turgidus hie epulis atque albo ventre lavatur,
gutture sulpureas lente exhalante mefites.
sed tremor inter vina subit calidumque trientem2 100
excutit e manibus, dentes crepuere retecti,
uncta cadunt laxis'tunc pulmentaria labris.
hinc tuba, candelae, tandemque beatulus alto
1 rogavit P : rogabit P- : rogabis aL. 2 trienlal <p.
1 The early sage and legislator of Athens of the seventh
century ; the most famous of the Seven Wise Men of Greece.
2 The fundamental principle of the Epicurean philosophy.
3 cf. Hor. Sat. n. iii. 88 : ne sis patruus mihi.
352
PERSIUS, SATIRE III
devils of Solons1 who go about with their heads bent
down, pinning their eyes to the ground, champing
and muttering to themselves like mad dogs, balancing
their words on protruded lip, and pondering over the
dreams of some sickly grey-beard that nothing can
come out of nothing, and that nothing can into
nothing return.2 Is it over stuff like this that you
grow pale ? is it worth while for this to go without
your dinner ? " Such jests move the mob to mirth :
peal after peal of laughter comes rippling forth from
the curled nostrils of our brawny youth.
88 "Examine me," says a patient to his doctor;
"I have a strange fluttering at the heart; my throat
is sore, and the breath coming from it is bad." The
doctor orders rest ; but when the third night finds
the man's veins flowing quietly along, he sends a
good-sized flagon to a wealthy friend, and asks for
some old Surrentine wine to tak- before his bath.
"You're a bit pale," says the friend. "O that's
nothing," says the other. " But you had better look
to it, whatever it is; your skin is yellow and is begin-
ning to swell." « You're paler yourself: don't come
the guardian 3 over me ; I buried mine long ago : 4
only you are left." "As you please, I say no more."
So, gorged with a good dinner, and pale in the belly,
he takes his bath, slowly pouring forth sulphurous
vapours from his throat. But as he drinks his
wine a shivering fit comes on and knocks the hot
tumbler out of his hand; his teeth are laid bare
and chatter ; the savoury morsels drop out of his
relaxed lips. Then follow the trumpet and the torch,
and at last the poar departed, laid out on a high
4 From Horace again, Sat. i. ix. 28: " 0 nines composui :
Felices! nunc ego resto."
353
A A
PERSI SATVRA III
conpositus lecto crassisque lutatus amomis
in portam rigidas calces extendit. at ilium 105
hesterni capite induto subiere Quirites.
" Tange, miser, venas et pone in pectore dextram.
nil calet hie. summosque pedes attinge manusque :
non frigent." visa est si forte pecunia sive
Candida vicini subrisit molle puella, 110
cor tibi rite salit ? positum est algente catino
durum olus et populi cribro decussa farina :
temptemus fauces ; tenero latet ulcus in ore
putre, quod haut deceat plebeia radere beta.
algeSj cum excussit membris timor albus aristas ; 115
nunc face supposita fervescit sanguis et ira
scintillant oculi, dicisque facisque quod ipse
non sani esse hominis non sanus iuret Orestes.
1 The tuba, candelae, amomis (or amormim), all part of the
paraphernalia of a funeral. See Juv. iv. 108.
354
PERSIUS, SATIRE III
bed and smeared with greasy unguents/ stretches
out his heels cold and stark towards the door, and
Quirites of yesterday's making, with caj)s of liberty 2
on their heads, carry him out to burial.
107 c Feel my pulse, poor fool, and put your hand
upon my heart ; no fever there ! Touch my hands
and my feet; they are not cold!" No, but if you
catch a glimpse of coin, or if the pretty girl next door
smiles sweetly on you : will your heart beat steadily
then ? Or suppose you have a dish of tough cabbage
served up to you on a cold plate with bread made
of the coarsest flour, would we not discover a sore
place in your throat, if we looked into it, which must
not be scraped by plebeian beet? You shiver when
pale fear sets your bristles up ; anon, if a torch is
applied to you, your blood boils, your eyes flash with
rage, and you say things, and do things, which the
mad Orestes himself would swear were the signs of
madness !
2 The body is carried to the grave by slaves manumitted
by their late master's will. As soon as the slave was manu-
mitted he put on a conical cap (pileus) as a sign of liberty.
355
A a 2
SUMMARY OF SATIRE IV
Puffed up by his ancestry, the youthful Aleibiades
would fain guide the state. Knowledge of men and
morals have come to him before his beard ; trusting
to his birth, his beauty, and his wheedling tongue,
he advises the multitude on the most delicate points
of right and policy. Yet he has none but the lowest
conceptions of life ; he has no higher ideals than an
old woman who hawks vegetables in the street
(1-22).
Not one of us has any knowledge of himself,
though we are all ready to discourse about our
neighbours. Ask a question about Vettidius, and you
will learn all the particulars of his life ; how miserly
he is, how he starves alike himself and his slaves.
And are you any better, though your vices lie in an
opposite direction to his? (23-41).
Thus we lash and are lashed in turn. Do not
deceive yourself; however much the neighbourhood
may praise you, care for no man's opinion but your
own. Look carefully into your own heart, and ac-
knowledge how poorly you are furnished (42-52).
357
SATVRA IV
" Rem populi tractas ? " barbatum haec crede
magistrum
dicere, sovbitio tollit quern dira cicutae.
quo fretus? die hoc, magni pupille Pericli.
scilicet ingenium et rerum prudentia velox
ante pilos venit, dicenda tacendave calles. 5
ergo ubi commota fervet plebecula bile,
fert animus calidae fecisse silentia turbae
maiestate manus. quid deinde loquere ? " Quirites,
hoc puta1 non iustum est; illud male,rectius illud."
scis etenim iustum gemina suspendere lance 10
ancipitis librae, rectum discernis ubi inter
curva subit vel cum fallit pede regula varo,
et potis es nigrum vitio praefigere theta.
quin tu igitur, summa nequiquam pelle decorus,
ante diem blando caudam iactare popello 15
desinis, Anticyras melior sorbere meracas?
i puto P3A2L.
2 lericle^was guardian to Alcibiades, and introduced him
to public life.
3 Spp Sat iii. 52 and note.
* The Greek letter 6, the initial letter of Odvaros, was
used by judges in passing a death sentence.
353
SATIRE IV
" What ? Are you busying yourself with affairs of
state ? "
Imagine these to be the words of the bearded
sage 1 who was carried off by that deadly draught of
hemlock. Tell me, you ward of the mighty Pericles,2
what are your qualifications? Sagacity, no doubt,
and a knowledge of affairs, have come to you quickly,
before your beard ; you know well what to say, and
what to leave unsaid. So when the bile of the
multitude has been stirred to heat, the spirit moves
you to impose silence on the fevered mob by a lordly
waving of the hand. What will you say after that ?
" Fellow citizens ! This proposal is unjust ; that other
one is bad ; this third plan is the best ! " For, of
course, you know exactly how to weigh justice in the
twin scales of the wavering balance ; you can detect
the straight line when it comes in between curves,3
even when the straddling leg of the foot-rule would
lead you wrong ; and you know how to affix to guilt
the black mark of death.4 But seeing that your sleek
outside skin will avail you not, why not stop waving
that tail of yours to the fawning multitude before
your time, when it would be better for you to be
swallowing whole islands-full5 of hellebore un-
diluted ?
5 There were two towns called Anticyra, one in Phocis,
one in Thessaly. Both produced hellebore, the sovereign
remedy for madness.
359
PERSI SATVRA IV
Quae tibi summa boni est? uncta vixisse patella
semper et adsiduo curata cuticula sole ?
expecta, haut aliud respondeat haec anus, i nunc,
" Dinomaches ego sum/' suffla, "sum candidus."
esto, 20
dum ne deterius sapiat pannucia Baucis,
cum bene discincto cantaverit ocima vernae.
Vt nemo in sese temptat descendere, nemo,
sed praecedenti 1 spectatur mantica tergo !
quaesieris " nostin Vettidi praedia ? " " cuius ? " 25
"dives arat Curibus quantum non miluus errat."
" hunc ais, hunc dis iratis genioque sinistro,
qui, quandoque iugum pertusa ad com pita figit,
seriolae veterem metuens deradere limum,
ingemit 'hoc bene sit' tunicatum cum sale mordens 30
caepe, et farrata2 pueris plaudentibus olla2
pannosam faecem morientis sorbet aceti? "
at si unctus cesses et figas in cute solem,
est prope te ignotus, cubito qui tangat et acre
despuat: " hi mores! penemque arcanaque lumbi 35
runcantem populo marcentis pandere vulvas !
tunc cum maxillis balanatum gausape pectas,
inguinibus quare detonsus gurgulio extat?
quinque palaestritae licet haec plantaria vellant
elixasque nates labefactent forcipe adunca, 40
non tamen ista filix ullo mansuescit aratro."
Caedimus inque vicem praebemus crura sagittis.
vivitur hoc pacto, sic novimus. ilia subter
1 praecedentis L. 2 farrata olle PA2: farratam ollam L.
1 The lines 21 and 22 have been variously, but not satis-
factorily, explained. The name Baucis is that of a peasant-
woman in one of Ovid's tales [Met. viii. 640 foil.). The
general sense seems to be that the arts employed by Al-
cibiades are no better in their way than those used by an old
woman in hawking vegetables to some slovenly fellow-slave.
360
PERSIUS, SATIRE IV
17 What is your notion of the highest good ? Is it
to live off dainty dishes every day, and to have your
delicate cuticle comforted by continual basking in
the sun ? Wait a bit, and this old woman here will
give no other answer. Go, then, and blow your
trumpet : " I am Dinomache's son ; I am the pink of
beauty!" Good! only remember that you are no
wiser than this tattered old Baucis when she puffs
off her greengroceries to some slipshod slave ! x
23 Not a soul is there — no, not one — who seeks
to get down into his own self;2 all watch the
wallet on the back that walks before ! Ask any
one whether he knows the property of Ventidius ;
" Whom do you mean ? " he will ask. " O that rich
man at Cures who owns more land than a kite can
fly over." " What ? Do you mean that fellow, hateful
alike to the gods and his own Genius, who, on the
day when he hangs up his yoke at the Cross Roads,
hesitates to wipe off the dirt that has gathered
round his cannikin of wine, and groans out, ' May it
all be for the best ! ' and while the slave-lads are
revelling over their hasty-pudding, munches an
onion, skin and all, with a pinch of salt to it, and
sucks down the dregs of some expiring vinegar ? "
But, on the other hand, should you be living in
lazy luxury, basking in the sunshine, there is always
some one you never knew to jog you with his elbow,
and, spitting savagely at you, cry, "Are these your
vile practices ? " . . .
42 We keep smiting by turns and by turns present-
ing our own legs to the arrow. That is the rule of
life ; that is the lesson of experience. You have a
2 From line 23 to the end the subject is once more the
want of self-knowledge.
361
PERSI SATVRA IV
caecum vulnus habes, sed lato balteus auro
praetegit. ut mavis, da verba et decipe nervos, 45
si potes.
a Egregium cum me vicinia dicat,
non credam ? " viso si palles, inprobe, nummo,
si facis in penem quidquid tibi venit, amarum
si puteal multa cautus vibice flagellas,
nequiquam populo bibulas donaveris aures. 50
respue quod non es, tollat sua munera cerdo ;
tecum habita : noris quam sit tibi curta supellex.
1 This line has not been satisfactorily explained. Puteal,
or Puleal Libonis, seems to stand for the Forum, which was
363
PERSIUS, SATIRE IV
secret wound beneath the groin ; but a broad golden
belt keeps it out of view. Well, as you please ; trick
your body and befool it if you can !
40 <( What? If all my neighbours call me a fine
fellow, am I not to believe them ? " If, in your greed,
you change colour at the sight of gold ; if you yield
to every foul desire ; if by some crafty trick you flog
the money-market with whipcord,1 in vain will you
lend your thirsty ears to the flattery of the mob.
Cast off everything that is not yourself; let the mob
take back what they have given you ; live in your
own house, and recognise how poorly it is furnished.
the Roman money-market, and the line is supposed to refer
to some fishy or fraudulent operation on the Stock Exchange.
363
SUMMARY OF SATIRE V
This satire begins with an enthusiastic acknow-
ledgment by the poet of all that he owes to his
beloved guide, philosopher, and friend, L. Annaeus
Cornutus, and then goes on to discuss the great
Stoical thesis that all men (Stoics of course excepted)
are slaves. The whole is modelled upon Horace,
Sat. ii. vii.
O for a hundred tongues, as the poets of old used
to say ! (1-4). " Why such a prayer from you ?
You are not going to gather solemn vapourings on
Mount Helicon, or inflict upon us the ghastly tales
and grandiose mouthings of Greek Tragedy ; yours
is a more homely theme, to rebuke skilfully and
pleasantly, in every-day language, the vices and the
foibles of common life " (5—18).
No, no ! my page is not to be swollen out with
nothings. It is to you, dear friend, that I wish to
open out my soui. that you may test it, and discern
how sound it rings, and how deeply I have planted
you in the recesses of my heart (19-29). From the
day when I first put on the robe of manhood, when
the two roads of life lay uncertainly before me, you
took me under your guardian care ; you folded me to
your Soeratic bosom, and taught me, with cunning
hand, to discern the crooked and the straight. It
was you who fashioned my soul ; you made our two
lives into one, alike for work and play. Sure, sure
365
SUMMARY OF SATIRE V
am 1 that our two lives are derived from one common
star, which links them both together (30-51).
No two men have the same desires. One is a busy
merchant, another longs for ease : games, gambling,
and love have each their votaries, but when their
joints have been broken by old age and gout, all alike
bemoan their days of grossness, and lament the life
they have left behind them (52-61). Your delight
is in study ; you love to sow in the hearts of youth
the good grain of Cleanthes. But men will not
learn the one true lesson of life : " To-morrow," they
say, "will be soon enough," and then again, "to-
morrow": a morrow which is for ever pursued and
never reached (62-72). What we want is freedom ;
but not the sort of freedom which is bestowed by
the lictor's rod (73-82). " But is not the newly-made
Davus free ? has he not liberty to do what he likes ?
" Not so," says the Stoic ; " no man is free who has
not learnt the proper uses of life ; no man is free to
do what he will spoil in the doing of it. A doctor
must understand medicine, a sailor navigation : how
can a man live rightly if he does not understand the
principle of right living, knowing what to aim at,
what to avoid, how to behave in all the circumstances
of life ? Satisfy me on these points, and I will call
you free, and a wise man to boot : but if your know-
ledge is but pretence, if you are but an ass in a lion's
skin, reason will not listen to your claim ; naught
but folly can come out of a fool, not one step can he
take without going wrong" (83-123). "For all that
I am free," you say. "What? do you know of no
master but one who uses the rod? Are you not
a slave when your passions drive you this way or
that way as they will ? Avarice bids you rise and
366
SUMMARY OF SATIRE V
scour the seas for gain. Luxury warns you that you
are mad in giving up, for filthy lucre's sake, all the
ease and all the joys of life. Which master will you
obey? And if you once break free, how long will
you keep your freedom? (124-160). Oris it Love
that enslaves you ? Chaerestratus feels his chain,
but cannot make up his mind to break it : the
slightest word from his mistress brings him back to
her. What kind of freedom was it that he got from
the lictor's rod ? " (161-175). And what of the candi-
date for public office who courts the mob by shows ?
What of the superstitions of the Jews, or the many
magical follies to which men enslave themselves?
(176-188).
At this philosophy the varicose Fulfennius laughs
aloud, and bids a hundred pence for a pack of
your Greeklings (189-191).
367
SATVRA V
Vatibus hie mos est, centum sibi poscere voces,
centum ora et linguas optare in carmina centum,
fabula seu maesto ponatur hianda tragoedo,
vulnera seu Parthi ducentis ab inguine ferrum.
" Quorsum haec ? aut quantas robusti carminis
offas 5
ingeris, ut par sit centeno gutture niti ?
grande locuturi nebulas Helicone legunto,
si quibus aut Prognes aut si quibus olla Thyestae
fervebit saepe insulso cenanda Glyconi.
tu neque anhelanti, coquitur dum massa camino, 10
folle premis ventos, nee clauso murmure raucus
nescio quid tecum grave cornicaris inepte,
nee scloppo tumidas intendis rumpere buccas.
1 The reference is to Iliad ii. 489, where Homer says
that ten tongues and ten voices would be all too few to
recount the leaders of the Achaean host ; also to Virgil, who
declares that a hundred tongues and a hundred voices would
not be enough to tell all the forms of punishment in the
lower world (Aen. vi. 625 foil.). See, too, Geor. ii. 43-4.
2 This line is closely imitated from Hor. Sat. II. i. 15.
3 A grotesque expression, after the manner of Persius.
For whereas the demand made was for a hundred mouths
for utterance, the speaker perverts the sense, and assumes
that the hundred mouths are wanted for swallowing : aa
368
SATIRE V
Ft is the fashion of poets to cail for a hundred
voices, a hundred mouths and a hundred tongues
for their lays,1 whether their theme be a play to
be gaped out by a lugubrious tragedian, or a
wounded Parthian plucking an arrow from his
groin.2
5 " What are you driving at ? What are these big
lumps of solid poetry that you would cram down
the throat so as to need a hundred throat-power
to grapple with them?3 Let those who meditate
lofty themes gather vapours on Mount Helicon,4 if
there be any who propose to set a-boiling the
pot of Procne or of Thyestes,5 whereby that dullard
Glyco 6 may be provided .with his nightly supper.
But you are not one that squeezes the wind like
the bellows7 of a forge when ore is a-smeltin<r,
nor are you one who croaks to himself some solemn
nonsense with hoarse mutterings like a crow ; nor
do you swell out your cheeks till they burst with an
though the poet were a glutton stuffing himself with Thyestean
meals.
4 Helicon, near Delphi, was the mountain of the Muses.
5 Referring to the grim tragic story of the supper off his
own children that was served up to Tereus by his wife
Procne.
6 An actor of the time, who seems to have played the part
of Tereus.
7 The metaphor of the bellows is closely imitated from
Hor. Sat. i. iv. 19 foil.
369
B B
PERSI SATVRA V
verba togae sequeris iunctura callidus acri,
ore teres modico, pallentis radere mores 15
doctus et ingenuo culpam defigere ludo.
hinc trahe quae dicis * mensasque relinque Mycenis
cum capite et pedibus plebeiaque prandia noris."
Non equidem hoc studeo, pullatis 2 ut mihi nugis
pagina turgescat dare pondus idonea fumo. 20
secrete 3 loquimur. tibi nunc hortante Camena
excutienda damus praecordia, quantaque nostrae
pars tua sit, Cornute, animae, tibi, dulcis amice,
ostendisse iuvat. pulsa dinoscere cautus
quid solidum crepet et pictae tectoria linguae. 25
hie ego centenas ausim deposcere fauces,
ut quantum mihi te sinuoso in pectore fixi,
voce traham pura, totumque hoc verba resignent
quod latet arcana non enarrabile fibra.
Cum primum pavido custos mihi purpura cessit 30
bullaque subcinctis Laribus donata pependit,
cum blandi comites totaque impune Subura
permisit sparsisse oculos iam candidus umbo,
cumque iter ambiguum est et vitae nescius error
1 dicas L. 2 Some MSS. have bullatis. 3 secreti LA2.
1 The toga was worn in comedy, as representing the dress
of ordinary life, while the praetexta was worn in tragedy.
This line, and especially the use of the word iunctura, is
imitated from Hor. A. P. 47-8 and 242.
2 The pallor, as elsewhere, is the pallor of debauchery.
* The metaphor from unbaked pottery is repeated from
370
PERSIUS, SATIRE V
explosive Pop \ No ; your language is that of every-
day life ; l skilled in clever phrasing, rounded but not
full-mouthed, you know well how to chide vicious
ways,2 how to hit off men's foibles with well mannered
pleasantry. Let these be the sources from which you
draw : leave to Mycenae her banquets, her heads
and extremities, and make acquaintance with the
dinners of common folk."
19 Nay, indeed, it is no aim of mine that my
page should swell with pretentious trifles, fit only to
give solidity to smoke. To yourself alone, Cornutus,
do I speak ; I now shake out my heart to you
at the bidding of the Muse ; it is a joy to me
to show you, beloved friend, how large a portion
of my soul is yours. Strike it and note carefully
what part of it rings true,3 what is but paint and
plaster of the tongue. It is for this that I would
ask for a hundred voices : that I may with clear
voice proclaim how deeply I have planted you in the
recesses of my heart, and that my words may render
up all the love that lies deep and unutterable in my
inmost soul.
30 When first as a timid youth I lost the guardianship
of the purple, and hung up my bulla as an offering
to the short-girt household gods ; in the days when
comradeship was sweet, and my gown, now white,4
permitted me freely to cast my eyes over the whole
Subura— at the age when the path of life is doubt-
ful, and wanderings, ignorant of life, parted my
iii. 21. 22. The phrase pictae tectoria linguae is strained,
combining as it does two different ideas :— lit. " the plaster
of a painted tongue."
4 Not "my yet unsullied gown" (Conington\ but "my
gown now white," as distinguished from the toga praetexta
of boyhood.
37i
B B 2
PERSI SATVRA V
diducit l trepidas ramosa in compita mentes, 35
me tibi supposui. teneros tu suscipis annos
Socratico, Cornute, sinu. tunc fallere sollers
adposita intortos extendit regula mores
et premitur ratione animus vincique laborat
artificemque tuo ducit sub pollice vultum. 40
tecum etenim longos memini consumere soles
et tecum primas epulis decerpere noctes.
unura opus, et requiem pai-iter disponimus ambo,
atque verecunda laxamus seria mensa.
non equidem hoc dubites, amborum foedere certo 45
consentire dies et ab uno sidere duci.
nostra vel aequali suspendit tempora Libra
Parca tenax veri, seu nata fidelibus hora
dividit in Geminos concordia fata duorum,
Saturnumque gravem nostro love frangimus una,
nescio quod certe est quod me tibi temperat astrum.
1 diducit A2 and others : diducit Pa Biich. 1S93, Owen.
50
1 These lines repeat, in a more complicated form, the idea
of the branching ways given in iii. 56-57 ; and just as in the
former passage the reading diduxit, though not that of the
best MSS., is to be preferred to deduxit, so here diducit,
though hard to translate, may perhaps be preferred to deducit.
Cum iter ambiguum est denotes the point at which the choice
has to be made, when vitae nescius error, "the ignorant
wanderings of childhood," diducit trepidas mentes, i.e. "parts,
or draws asunder," the youthful mind into the two branch-
ing ways. The phrase illustrates the tendency of Persius to
jumble two separate ideas into one, a new idea being intro-
duced before he has finished off the old. The less natural,
the more tortuous, the expression, the more is it after the
manner of Persius. Deducit would have the simpler meaning
" leads down the mind to the point where the roads begin to
diverge" (Conington).
2 We have here repeated from iv. 11-12, in a more grotesque
form, the idea of a moral foot-rule. In the former passage
the truly moral man can distinguish the crooked from the
372
PERSIUS, SATIRE V
trembling soul into the branching cross-ways1 — 1
placed myself in your hands, Cornutus; you took up
my tender years in your Socratic bosom. Your rule,
applied with unseen skill, straightened out the
crooked ways ; " my soul, struggling to be mastered,
was moulded by your reason, and took on its features
under your plastic thumb. With you, I remember,
did I pass long days, with you pluck for feasting
the eai-ly hours of night. We two were one in our
work ; we were one in our hours of rest, and unbent
together over the modest board. Of this I would
not have you doubt, that there is some firm bond
of concord between our lives, and that both are
drawn from a single star.3 Either a truth-abiding
Fate hangs our destinies on the even-balanced Scales,
or if the hour which dawned upon the faithful paii
distributes between the Twins the accordant destinies
of us twain,4 and a kindly Jupiter has vanquished for
us the malignancy of Saturn,5 some star assuredly
there is which links your lot with mine.
straight even when his foot-rule has a crooked leg {i.e. is off
the square) ; in the present passage the moral foot-rule of
Cornutus is so perfect that it cunningly and insensibly
straightens out the most twisted ways : his teaching is so
skilfully applied that the pupil is led on to virtue without
effort, scarcely knowing it himself.
3 The passage which follows (45-51) is closely imitated
from Hor. Od. n. xvii. 15-24. I have followed the translation
and interpretation given by Professor Housman (I.e. pp. 16-
18). The horoscope is the sign of the zodiac which rises at the
moment of birth ; Persius chooses the signs of the Balance
and the Twins, as both are suggestive of close friendship.
4 The translation given above for lines 48 and 49 {seu nata
. . . duorum) is that given by Professor Housman. He takes
sen in line 48 as equivalent to vel si (I.e. p. 20).
5 The influence of Saturn was always malignant, that of
Jupiter favourable (Hor. Od. II. xvii. 23-25). Compare the
use of our words " saturnine " and "jovial."
373
60
65
PERSI SATVRA V
Mille hominum species et rerum discolor usus ;
velle suum cuique est, nee voto vivitur uno.
mercibus hie Italis mutat sub sole recenti
rugosum piper et pallentis grana cumini, 55
hie satur inriguo mavult turgescere somno,
hie campo indulget, hunc alea decoquit, ille
in venerem putris ; set cum lapidosa cheragra
fecerit 1 articulos veteris ramalia fagi,
tunc crassos transisse dies lucemque palustrem
et sibi iam seri vitam 2 ingemuere relictam.2
At te nocturnis iuvat inpallescere chartis ;
cultor enim iuvenum purgatas inseris aures
fruge Cleanthea. petite hinc puerique senesque
finem animo certum miserisque viatica canis.
"eras hoc net." idem eras net.3 "quid? quasi
magnum
nempe diem donas ?" sed cum lux altera venit,
iam eras hesternum consumpsimus ; ecce aliud eras
egerit hos annos et semper paulum erit ultra,
nam quamvis prope te, quamvis temone sub uno 70
i fecerit a Biich : fregerit TL Seh.Owen.
* vitam relictam aL Biich. 1893, Owen: vita rehcta P (see
iii. 38), Biich. 1910. 3 eras fiat a. So Housm.
1 See Hor. Sat. n.'L 17: Q'tot capitum vivunt totidem
studiorum Millia. _
a i e the life of virtue which they have abandoned. Pro-
fessor ' Housman takes this somewhat differently: "they
mourn that life is a thing which they have left untouched
(I.e. p. 21). For the general meaning, cf. m. 38: virtutem
videaut intabe scant que relicta.
3 Clean thes (born at Assos about B.C. 300) was a pupil of
Zeno, the founder of the Stoical school, and had Chrysippus
for his pupil.
374
PERSIUS, SATIRE V
52 Men are of a thousand kinds,1 and diverse are
the colours of their lives. Each has his own desires ;
no two men offer the same prayers. One under an
Eastern sun barters Italian wares for shrivelled
pepper, or for the blanching cumin-seed ; another
grows fat with good cheer and balmy slumbers.
A third is all for field games ; a fourth loses his
all over the dice box ; a fifth ruins himself by
love : but when once the knotty gout has broken
up their joints till they are like the boughs of an old
beech tree, they lament that their days have been
passed in grossness, that their light has been that of
a mist, and bemoan too late the life which they have
left behind them.2
62 But your delight has been to grow pale over
nightly study, to till the minds of the young, and to
sow the seed of Cleanthes 3 in their well-cleansed
ears. Seek thence all of you, young men and old
alike, a sure aim for your desires, and provisions for
the sorrows of old age ! " So I will, to-morrow,"
you say : but to-morrow you will say the same as to-
day.4 " What ? " you ask, " do you think it a great
thing to present me with a single day?" — No, but
when to-morrow comes, yesterday's morrow will have
been already spent : and lo ! a fresh morrow will
be for ever making away with our years, each just
beyond our grasp. For though the tire is close
to you, and revolves under the self-same pole, you
4 i e. " it will be the same story again to-morrow " : "you
■will then again say ' to-morrow.' " Professor Housman reads
fiat, following AB, and explains : "The new life shall begin
to-morrow," says the sluggard. "No, no, let the old life
continue to-morrow," answers Persius ; " the day after to-
morrow will be soon enough to begin the new."
375
PERSI SATVRA V
vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum,
cum rota posterior curras et in axe secundo.
Libertate opus est. non hac, ut quisque Velina
Publius emeruit, scabiosum tesserula far
possidet. heu steriles veri, quibus una Quiritem 75
vertigo facit. hie Dama est non tresis agaso,
vappa lippus et in tenui fan-agine mendax ;
rerterit hunc dominus, momento turbinis exit
Marcus Dama : papae, Marco spondente recusas
credei-e tu nummos ? Marco sub iudice palles ? 80
Marcus dixit,, ita est. adsigna, Marce, tabellas.
haec mera libertas, hoc nobis pillea donant.
"An quisquam est alius liber, nisi ducere vitam
cui licet ut libuit ? licet ut volo vivere : non sum
liberior Bruto ? " "mendose colligis/' inquit 85
stoicus hie aurem mordaci lotus aceto :
"hoc reliqum accipio, ' licet' illud et ' ut volo ' tolle."
1 This passage has caused much trouble to commentators,
but can be simply explained. " We have need of liberty
(i.e. the true liberty) — a kind of liberty not possessed b}' any
Publius (any Tom, Dick, or Harry) who by getting enrolled
in the Veline tribe becomes the owner of a ticket entitling
him to a mouldy ration of corn." Hae stands for the true
kind of liberty: "it is not by that sort of liberty that
Publius becomes possessed of a corn-ticket." (See Professor
Housman, I.e. p. 23.) The Veline tribe was the latest addi-
tion to the local tribes instituted by Servius Tullius, making
up the total to thirty-five, a number which was never
exceeded. The allusion in tesserula is to the free distribu-
tion of corn made to all citizens enrolled in the tribes.
2 The process of manumission here ridiculed was that by
the rod {vindicta). The master took the slave before the
Praetor or other magistrate, a third person touched the
376
PERSIUS, SATIRE V
will in vain pursue it, seeing that your wheel is the
hind wheel, and that your axle is the second, not
the first.
73 What we want is true liberty ; ] not by that
kind is it that any Publius enrolled in the Veline
tribe becomes the possessor of a ticket for a ration
of mangy corn. O souls barren of truth, you who
think that one twirl of the thumb can make a Roman
citizen ! Look at Dama here : an under-strapper
not worth three groats ; blear-eyed from drink ; a
man who would tell a lie about a half-feed of corn :
his master gives him one spin, when lo and behold !
in the tm-ning of a top, he comes forth as Marcus
Dama ! 2 — " What ? Do you hesitate to lend money
when Marcus is the surety ? — Are you uneasy with
Marcus for a judge?" — " Marcus has said it, it must
be so ! " — " Pray, Marcus, put your signature to these
deeds." — This, indeed, is liberty undefiled ! This is
the kind we get from our caps of liberty !
83 " And pray how otherwise would you describe
a free man than as one who is free to live as he
chooses ? I am free to live as / choose : am I not
more free than Brutus ? " — " Your logic is at fault,"
says my Stoical friend, whose ears have been well
washed with pungent vinegar : " I accept the rest ;
but you must strike out the words fyou are free'
and fas you choose."'
slave with the rod (virga or festuca or vindicta), saying
" Hunc hominem liberum esse aio." The master then acknow-
ledged the claim by turning the man round, with the words
"Hunc hominem liberum esse aio." The ceremony was then
complete. See below, S8. The newly-enfranchised citizen
at once rejoices in a praenomtn ; so Hor. Sat. n. v. 32.
" Quint e" puia, ant " Publi" (gaudent praenomine molles
Auricidae).
377
90
PERSI SATVRA V
" Vindicta postquam meus a praetore recessi,
cur milii non liceat, iussit quodcumque voluntas,
excepto siquid Masuri rubrica vetavit?"
Disce, sed ira cadat naso rugosaque sanna,
dum veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello.
non praetoris erat stultis dare tenvia rerum
officia, atque usum rapidae permittere vitae ;
sambucam citius caloni aptaveris alto. 95
stat conti-a ratio et secretam garrit in aurem,
ne liceat facere id quod quis vitiabit l agendo,
publica lex hominum naturaque continet hoc fas,
ut teneat vetitos inscitia debilis actus,
diluis elleborum certo conpescere puncto 100
nescius examen : vetat hoc natura medendi.
navem si poscat sibi peronatus arator
Luciferi rudis, exclamet 2 Melicerta perisse
frontem de rebus.
Tibi recto vivere talo
ars dedit et veri3 speciem4 dinoscere calles, 105
nequa subaerato mendosum tinniat auro ?
1 vitiabit L2 Sell.: vitiavit PaL1. 2 exclamat P.
3 veri aL Prise. : veris PBiich.Owen.
4 speciem P Prise. : specimen aL.
1 Masurius Sabinus was a distinguished jurist in the reign
of Tiberius. The titles of laws were written in red ink.
2 These words come naturally from a Stoic. The Stoical
doctrine of Nature had much to do with the adoption by
Roman jurists of the theory of a "Law of Nature," the
principles of which were applied to those who, not being
Roman citizens, could not claim the benefit of pure Roman
Law (ius civile). Maine shows in his Ancient Law how this
fiction of a " Law of Nature " lay at the root of what we call
378
PERSIUS, SATIRE V
88 {( What ? When on leaving the Praetor's pres-
ence I had been made my own master by his rod,
why am I not free to do everything that I want
to do, excepting only what the red-titled Law of
Masurius l forbids ? "
91 Just listen then, and drop that wrath and those
curling sneers from off your nose, while I pluck your
old wife's notions out of your head. It was no part
of the Praetor's business to impart to fools a delicate
sense of duty, or empower them to make a right use
of our fleeting life : it would be more easy to fit
a hulking clodhopper with a harp. Reason forbids,
and whispers privately into the ear that no man
be allowed to do what he will spoil in the doing of it.
The public law of man and Nature 2 herself lay down
this rule, that ignorance and imbecility should hold
action to be forbidden them.3 If you would com-
pound hellebore when you do not know at what point
to steady the tongue of the steel-yard, the principles
of the healing art forbid ; if a hobnailed countryman,
who knows nothing of the morning star, were to
ask for the command of a ship, Melicerta 4 would de-
clare that modesty had perished from off the earth.
104 Has Philosophy taught you how to live rightly ?5
Are you skilled in discerning the appearance of truth,
that there be no false ring of copper underneath the
"Equity" in English law. The instrument by which the
idea of a "Law of Nature" was grafted on to Roman law
was the Praetor's Edict, each Praetor adopting and carrying
on the Edict of his predecessor.
3 This may either mean " may deem them to be forbidden to
them " (which is precisely what incompetence never does), or
else ' ' holds back or checks action as though it were forbidden."
4 Melicertes, otherwise Palaemon, was a sea deity.
6 The catechism which follows seems modelled upon Hor.
Epp. ii. ii. 205-211..
379
PERSI SATVRA V
quaeque sequenda forent quaeque evitanda vicissim,
ilia prius creta, mox haec carbone notasti ?
es modicus voti, presso lare, dulcis amicis ?
iam nunc adstringas, iam nunc granaria laxes, 110
inque luto fixum possis transcendere nummum
nee gluttu x sorbere salivam Mercurial em ?
" haec mea sunt, teneo " cum vere dixeris, esto
liberque ac sapiens praetoribus ac love dextro.
sin tu, cum fueris nostrae paulo ante farinae, 115
pelliculam veterem retines et fronte politus
astutam vapido servas in pectore volpem,
quae dederam supra relego 2 funemque reduco :
nil tibi concessit ratio ; digitum exere, peccas,
et quid tarn parvum est? sed nullo ture litabis, 120
haereat in stultis brevis ut semuncia recti,
haec miscere nefas ; nee, cum sis cetera fossor,
tris tantum ad numeros satyrum moveare Bathylli.
" Liber ego." unde datum hoc sumis,3 tot sub-
dite rebus ?
an dominum ignoras nisi quern vindicta relaxat ? 125
1 gluttu P : glutlo aL. 2 Some MSS. have repelo.
3 gamin PL2: sentis aL1 (cf. Hor. Sat. n. ii. 31).
1 Mercury being the god of gain.
2 Here Persius, in his effort to combine two passages from
Horace into a single phrase, perpetrates a gross confusion *)f
metaphors. In the one passage {Sat. I. vi. 22) Horace alludes
to the ass in the lion's skin, in the other {Sat. II. iii. 186) to
that of the fox dressed up as a lion. The words farinae
nostrae (" of the same flour as ourselves") introduce a new
metaphor; and when he says pelliculam veterem, "the old
380
PERSIUS, SATIRE V
gold? Have you marked off the things to be aimed
at, and those again to be avoided — the former with
a white stone, the latter with a black? Are you
moderate in your desires, modest in your estab-
lishment, and kindly to your friends ? Can you
now close your granaries, and now again throw them
open? Can you pass by a coin sticking in the
mud, without gulping down your saliva in your
greed for treasure ?: When you can truly say, "Yes,
all these things are mine," I will call you a free
and a wise man, under the favour of praetors and of
Jove ; but if, after having been but a little ago of
the same stuff as ourselves, you hold to your old skin,
and though your brow be smooth, still keep a crafty
fox 2 in that vapid heart of yours, I take back what
I have just granted you and pull in my rope. Not
one point has reason granted you ; put out your
finger (and what can be a slighter thing than that ?)
and you go wrong : not all the incense in the world
will win leave from the Gods that one short half-
ounce of wisdom may find lodgment in the head of a
fool ! To mingle 3 the two things is sacrilege ; if you
are a clown in all else, you cannot dance as much as
three steps of the Satyr of Bathyllus.4
124 tc yet for all that I am free," you say. And
what is your ground of confidence, you that are a
slave to so many masters ? Do you know of no master
but the one from whom the praetor's rod sets you
skin," what he means is that the real nature of the fox
remains unchanged beneath the skin.
3 Miscere is exactly the right word here, being used of
mingling things which have no proportion or affinity to each
other, as distinguished from temperare, "to mix in due
proportion."
4 A comic dancer of the time.
38l
PERSI SATVRA V
" i puer et strigiles Crispini ad balnea defer ! "
si increpuit, " cessas nugator ? " servitium acre
te nihil inpellit, nee quicquam extrinsecus intrat
quod nervos agitet ; sed si intus et in iecore aegro
nascuntur domini, qui tu inpunitior exis 130
atque hie, quern ad strigiles scutica et metus egit
erilis?
Mane piger stertis. "surge," inquit Avaritia,
" heia
surge." negas. instat: "surge," inquit. "non
queo.'' "surge.''
"et quid agam?" "rogas? en saperdas advehe
Ponto,
castoreum, stuppas, hebenum, tus, lubrica Coa ; 135
tolle recens primus piper ex1 sitiente camelo ;
verte aliquid ; iura." "sed Iuppiter audiet."
"eheu,
baro,2 regustatum digito terebrare salinum
contentus perages, si vivere cum love tendis."
lam pueris pellem succinctus et oenophorum
aptas; 140
"ocius ad navem ! " nihil obstat quin trabe vasta
Aegaeum rapiaSj ni sollers Luxuria ante
seductum moneat : " quo deinde, insane, mis, quo ?
quid tibi vis? calido sub pectore mascula bilis
1 e <p: et PaL ; and so Housm.
1 baro Ina : varo P2A2L.
1 The word verte is usually explained as = the phrase
versuram facere, " to borrow " ; properly to borrow from one
man in order to pay another. But the word may denote
382
PERSIUS, SATIRE V
free ? If somebody sharply bids you take Crispinus'
scrapers to the bath, and then abuses you as a
lazy scoundrel, no strict bond of slavery, certainly,
bids you stir, no force from without comes in to
move your muscles ; but if masters grow up within,
in that sickly bosom of yours, how do you get oft
scot-free any more than the man who was sent
off to fetch the scrapers by the terror of his master's
whip ?
132 You are snoring lazily in the moraing : " Up
you get," says Avarice; "come, up with you!" —
You do not budge : " Up, up with you ! " she cries
again.---" O, I can't ! " you say. — "Rise, rise, I tell
you ! "— " O dear, what for ? "— " What for ? Why,
to fetch salt fish from Pontus, beaver oil, tow, ebony,
frankincense and glossy Coan fabrics ; be the first to
take the fresh pepper off the camel's back before he
has had his drink ; do some bartering,1 and then
forswear yourself." — "O, but Jupiter will hear ! " —
" Whew ! if you mean to live on terms with Jupiter,
you must just go on as you are, content to be a simple-
ton scraping and scraping away with your thumb at
the salt-cellar which you have so often tasted." 2
140 And now you are all ready, piling packing-cases
and wine-jars on to your slaves. " Quick aboard ! "
you cry ; there's nothing now to stop you from
scudding over the Aegean in a big ship, were it
not that crafty Luxury takes you aside for a word
of remonstrance : " Where are you off to now, you
madman ? What do you want ? What masterful
mere bargaining or exchange: "exchange something," i.e.
" enter into trade and then help yourself by perjury."
2 The phrase a\ia.v rpv-nuv is said of those who have come
to the end of their resources through poverty.
3*3
PERSI SATVRA V
intumuit, quam non extinxerit urna cicutae ? 145
tu mare transilias ? tibi torta cannabe fulto
cena sit in transtro Veientanumque rubellum
exlialet1 vapida laesum pice sessilis obba?
quid petis? ut nummi, quos hie quincunce modesto
nutrieras, peragant2 avidos sudore deunces ? 150
indulge genio, carpamus dulcia, nostrum est
quod viviSj cinis et manes et fabula fies.
vive memor leti, fugit hora, hoc quod loquor inde est."
En quid agis? duplici in diversum scinderis hamo.
huncine an hunc sequeris? subeas alternus oportet 155
ancipiti obsequio dominos, alternus oberres.
nee tu cum obstiteris semel instantique negaris
parere imperio, "rupi iam vincula " dicas ;
nam et luctata canis nodum abripit, at tamen illi_,
cum fugit, a collo trahitur pars longa catenae. 160
" Dave, cito, hoc credas iubeo, finire dolores
praeteritos meditor " : crudum Chaerestratus un-
guem
adrodens ait haec. "an siccis dedecus obstem
cognatis ? an rem patriam rumore sinistra
1 exalet P1 : exalat P2. 2 pergant a.
1 A quincunx was five ounces, of which there were twelve to
the as, or pound. In calculating interest, five-twelfths of an
as on 100 asses paid monthly was equivalent to five per cent,
per annum ; similarly eleven ounces a month would bo equi-
valent to eleven per cent.
384
PERSIUS, SATIRE V
humour is that swelling in your fevered heart so
that a whole gallon of hemlock cannot assuage it?
What? You to go skipping over the sea? You to
take your dinner on a bench, with a coiled cable for a
cushion, while a dumpy pot exhales for you the fumes
of some reddish Veientine wine that has been spoilt
because of the pitch going bad ? What would you
be at? Is it that the money which you have been
nursing at a modest five per cent.1 shall go on until
it sweats out an e-xorbitant eleven ? No, no ; give
your Genius a chance ! Let us gather our sweets !
Our life is our own to-day, to-morrow you will be
dust, a shade, and a tale that is told. Live mindful
of death ; the hour flies ; the word that I speak is
so much taken from it."
154 What are you to do ? Two hooks are pulling
you in different ways ; are you to follow this one or
that ? With wavering allegiance jt>u must needs sub-
mit to each master by turns, and by turns break away
from him. Nor if you have once made a stand, and
refused the imperious command, can you say, " Now
I have broken my chain " ; for though even a dog
may struggle against his chain and break it, yet as
he runs away a good length of it will be trailing
from his neck.
i6i a Here, Davus, quick ! I am in real earnest ; I
mean2 to bring my past follies to an end." So
says Chaerestratus, biting his nails to the quick.
" What ? Am I to be a stumbling block and a
scandal to my excellent relations ? Am I to lose
2 The passage which follows is taken from the Eunuchus of
Menander, translated by Terence ; Persius gives the names
Chaerestratus and Davus as in the Greek play, instead of
Phaedria and Parmenio as in Terence.
385
c c
PERSI SATVRA V
limen ad obscaenum frangam, dum Chrysidis udas 165
ebrius ante fores extincta cum face canto ? "
" euge puer, sapias, dis depellentibus agnam
percute." "sed censen, plorabit, Dave, relicta?"
" nugaris ; solea, puer, obiurgabere rubra,
ne trepidare velis atque artos rodere casses ! 170
nunc ferus et violens ; at si vocet, liaut mora, dicas
< quidnam igitur faciam? nee nunc, cum arcessat1
et ultro
supplicet, accedam ? ' si totus et integer illinc
exieras,2 nee nunc." hie hie quod quaerimus,
hie est,
non in festuca, lictor quam iactat ineptus. 175
Ius habet ille sui, palpo quem ducit hiantem
cretata ambitio ? vigila et cicer ingere large
rixanti populo, nostra ut Floralia possint
aprici meminisse senes ! quid pulchrius ? at cum
Herodis venere dies unctaque fenestra 180
dispositae pinguem nebulam vomuere lucernae
portantes violas rubrumque amplexa catinum
1 accessor a : accersor L. 3 exieris IA
1 Another word for the vindicta, the rod by which the
elave was claimed for freedom.
2 i.e. the man ambitious of public office. All candidates
for public offices had their toga artificially whitened, and
hence were called candidati.
3 Candidates sought to gain popularity by exhibiting public
games. At these games, especially at the Floralia, celebrated
from April 28 to May 3, peas and other vegetables were often
scrambled for by means of tickets (tesserae). Horace thus
addresses a candidate for office : In cicere atque /aba bona tu
386
PERSIUS, SATIRE V
alike my patrimony and my character by singing
drunken songs, with my torch put out, before my
mistress's dripping door ? " "Bravo! my young sir.
Show your good sense, and slay a lamb to the Protect-
ing Deities ! " " But do you think, Davus, that she
will cry if 1 leave her?" "You're just playing the
fool ! And won't you be catching it, my boy, with her
red slipper, just to teach you not to jib or to gnaw at
the tight-drawn meshes ! At one moment you're all
bluster and indignation ; next moment, if she call
you back, you'll be saying, ' What am I to dor
Am I not to go to her even now, when she sends for
me, and actually implores me to return ? ' No, no,
say I, not even now, if once you have got away from
her entire and heart-whole." Here, here is the fi*ee-
dom we are looking for, not in the stick 1 brandished
by that nincompoop of a lictor.
176 And that white-robed2 wheedler there, dragged
open-mouthed by his thirst for office — is he his own
master? Up with you before dawn, and deal out
showers of vetches for the people to scramble for,
that old men sunning themselves in their old age may
tell of the splendour of our Floralia ! 3 How grand !
But when Herod's birthday4 comes round, when
the lamps wreathed with violets and ranged round
the greasy window-sills have spat forth their thick
clouds of smoke, when the floppy tunnies' tails are
curled round the dishes of red ware, and the white
perdasque lupinis (Sat. n. iii. 182). These games were at-
tended by great license, especially among women (Ov. Fast. v.
183-378 ; Juv. vi. 249-250). Hence the mention of them here
leads naturally on to the consideration of the superstitious
observances mentioned in the next section (179-188).
4 Apparently the birthday of Herod the Great. The
Romans regarded the Jews as practising the basest of all super-
stitions. See notes on Juv. xiv. 96-106 and vi. 542-547.
387
c c 2
PERSI SATVRA V
cauda natat thynni, tumet alba fidelia vino,
labra moves tacitus recutitaque sabbata palles.
turn nigri lemures ovoque pericula rupto, 185
turn grandes galli et cum sistro lusca sacerdos
incussere deos inflantis corpora, si non
praedictum ter mane caput gustaveris alii.
Dixeris haec inter varicosos centuriones,
continuo crassum ridet Pulfenius ingens
et centum Graecos curto centusse licetur.
190
1 Isis was supposed to punish offenders with blindness
(Juv. xiii. 93).
2 The idea seems to be that of causing bodies to be pos-
sessed by evil spirits as were the Gadarene swine.
333
PERSIUS, SATIRE V
jars are swollen out with wine, you silently twitch
your lips, turning pale at the sabbath of the circum-
cised. Then, again, there are the black spectres and
the perils of the broken egg; there are the huge
priests of Ceres, and the one-eyed 1 priestess with
her rattle, who drive demons into you 2 that make
your bodies swell if you do not swallow the prescribed
morning dose of three heads of garlic.3
189 jf yOU ta]k jn this fashion among your varicose
Centurions, the hulking Pulfennius straightway bursts
into a huge guffaw, and bids a clipped hundred-penny
piece for a lot of a hundred Greeks.4
3 Persius piles up a list of the best known superstitions.
Line 186 refers especially to the rites of Cybele, with her
eunuch priests (Galli), and of Isis. See Juv. ii. Ill ; vi
512-13, and Hor. Epp. n. ii. 20S-9.
4 Persius once more has his fling at the muscular soldier
clans,
3»9
SUMMARY OF SATIRE VI
Has winter taken you back, Caesius Bassus, to your
Sabine home, with that manly lyre of yours that
strikes every note so fitly, whether grave or gay ? I
am wintering in my own Luna, regardless of the
multitude, without care of flocks, without envy ot
inferiors richer than myself (1-17). Others may
think differently ; there are some who meanly stint
themselves on feast-days ; others waste their sub-
stance in good living. Use what you have, say I ;
thrash out your harvest, and commit a new crop
to the soil (18-26). O, but a friend needs help,
you say, lying shipwrecked on the Bruttian shore :
then break off a bit of your estate for him, that
he may not want. "What? am I to incur the
wrath of my heir, and tempt him to neglect my
funeral rites?" Bestius does well in condemning
all foreign notions (27-40). Come, my heir, let
me have a quiet talk with you. Have you heard
that there's grand news from the front? that the
Germans have had a tremendous smashing, and
that there are to be rejoicings on a grand scale?
Woe to you if you don't join in ! I am going to
treat the multitude: do you dare stay my hand?
(41-52). Well, if you refuse, and if 1 can find no
legitimate heir of my own ; if I can find no relation,
male or female, sprung from ancestors of mine up to
the fourth generation, I will go to Bovillae and find
390
SUMMARY OF SATIRE VI
one on the beggars' stand (52-60). Do you object
to my spending on myself some part of what is my
own ? You Avill have the rest : take what I leave
you and be thankful ; don't force me to live scurvily
for your benefit, and don't serve up to me wise
sayings about living on one's income and keeping
one's capital intact. Am I to be starved in order
that some scape-grace heir of yours may grow a
belly ? Sell your life for gain ; ransack the world in
your quest for wealth ; let it come back to you with
a two-fold, a three-fold, ay a ten-fold increase : if
you can tell me where to stop, Chrysippus, your
fallacy of the Sorites will have been solved (61-80) !
391
SATVRA VI
Admovit iam bruma foco te, Basse, Sabino?
iamne lyra et tetrico vivunt tibi pectine chordae ?
mire opifex numeris veterum primordia vocum
atque marem strepitum fidis intendisse Latinae,
mox iuvenes agitare iocos et pollice honesto 5
egregius x lusisse senex.2 mihi nunc Ligus ora
intepet hibernatque3 meum mare, qua latus ingens
dant scopuli et multa litus se valle receptat.
" Lunai portum, est operae, cognoscite, cives " :
cor iubet hoc Ennr, postquam destertuit esse 10
Maeonides, quintus pavone ex Pythagoreo.
1 aegrcgius a : aegraecius P1 : aegregios P2L.
2 series P2L.
5 Housm. suggests mite tepet vernatque {I c. pp. 28-7).
1 The phrase primordia vocum is from Lucretius, iv. 531,
who uses it to mean the hodily " first beginnings of voices,"
i.e. the actual corporeal atoms of which he supposes voices
and words to consist. Here it seems to refer to the beginnings
of Latin, with an indication of the manly and archaic character
of the style of Bassus,
2 The readings vary between egregius senex and egregios
series. Conington translates senex, but has senes in his text.
Biich. reads egregius senex.
392
^ tW« <*& H&
SATIRE VI
Has winter yet brought thee, Bassus,to thy Sabine
hearth? Are thy lyre and its strings still alive
under thy sturdy quill? Thou that art so rare a
craftsman in setting to numbers the beginnings of
our ancient tongue/ and bringing out the manly notes
of the Latin lyre ; then again a wonderful old man
to ply the youthful jest, and sing in lighter but not
indecorous strains.2 To me now the Ligurian coast,
and my own winter sea,3 are giving all their warmth :
here the cliffs form a mighty wall, with a deep valley
running in from the shore. "'Tis worth your while,
O citizens, to know the port of Luna " : 4 so did
Ennius speak his mind 5 when he had given up
dreaming that he was Maeon's son, fifth in descent
from the peacock of Pythagoras.6
3 For the difficulties raised by the words intepet and
hibcrnat, see Professor Housman (I.e. p. 65).
4 This line is a quotation from Ennius.
5 The Romans considered the heart, not the brain, to be
the seat of intelligence. Cicero quotes from Ennius the
phrase egregie cordatus homo = " a clever man."
6 This is the explanation of the Scholiast, who imagines
Ennius in his dream to have gone through five transforma-
tions, the stages being (1) Pythagoras, (2) a peacock,
(3) Euphorbus, (4) Homer, (5) Ennius. But in his Annals
Ennius only relates that he had seen Homer in a dream,
who told him he had once been a peacock ; and it seems
simpler to take Quint us to refer to Ennius' own praenomen,
" when he ceased to dream himself Homer, becoming Quintus,
i.e. himself (Quintus being his own praenomen) out of the
Pythagorean peacock."
PERSI SATVRA VI
Hie ego securus volgi et quid praeparet auster
infelix pecori securus et angulus ille
vicini nostro quia pinguior ; et si adeo omnes
ditescant orti peioribus, usque recusem 15
curvus ob id minui senio aut cenare sine uncto
et signum in vapida naso tetigisse lagoena.
discrepet his alius, geminos, horoscope, varo
producis genio : solis natalibus est qui
tinguat olus siccum muria vafer in calice empta, 20
ipse sacrum inrorans patinae piper ; hie bona dente
grandia magnanimus peragit puer. utar ego, utar,
nee rhombos ideo libertis ponere lautus,
nee tenuis sollers turdarum l nosse salivas.
Messe tenus propria vive et granaria, fas est, 25
emole. quid metuas? occa, et seges altera in
herba est.
at vocat officium, trabe rupta Bruttia saxa
prendit amicus inops remque omnem surdaque vota
condidit Ionio, iacet ipse in litore et una
ingentes de puppe dei iamque obvia mergis 30
costa ratis lacerae : nunc et de caespite vivo
frange aliquid, largire inopL, ne pictus oberret
caerulea in tabula, sed cenam funeris heres
negleget hatus, quod rem curtaveris ; urnae
ossa inodora dabit, seu spirent cinnama surdum 35
1 tiirdarum~P1Sch.: turdorum aP2L.
1 Adco here seems to be used in the old Plautine sense,
- " Nay, more," " in addition to that."
2 Lit. "goes through an entire property with his teeth,"
i.e. spends it in gormandising.
394
PERSIUS, SATIRE VI
12 Here I live, heedless of the mob, or of what
trouble the baleful Auster may be brewing for my
herd, untroubled because that corner of my neigh-
bour's field is richer than my own — ay,1 and though
men of baser birth than I were growing rich, I should
still refuse, on that account, to be bent double and
grow thin with vexation, or to dine without a savoury,
or explore with my nose the seal of a bottle of vapid
wine. Others may think differently : one horoscope
will bring forth twins of diverse temperament. One
man, on birthdays only, moistens his dry cabbage
with a brine which, knowing dog that he is, he
has bought in a cup, sprinkling the sacred pepper
over the platter with his own hand ; another is a
lordly youth who runs through2 a whole estate in
gormandising. Enjoy what I have, say I ; being
neither grand enough to feed my freedmen upon
turbots, nor yet epicure enough to distinguish the
fine flavour of a hen thrush.
25 Use up your crop, and grind out your granaries,
as is right. Why need you be afraid ? harrow again,
and a second crop is in the blade. " But duty," you
say, "has a call on you : a poor shipwrecked friend
is clutching hold of the rocks of Bruttium, all his
goods and his unheeded prayers sunk in the Ionian
Sea ; he himself lies upon the shore, the great Gods
from the ship's poop beside him ; the gulls are by this
time flocking to the shattered timbers." Well then,
break off a bit from your green turf, and bestow it on
your needy friend, that he may not have to roam the
country with his picture on a sea-green plank. But
your heir, you say, will be wrathful that you have
curtailed your property : he will stint the funeral feast,
and will commit your bones unscented to the urn,
395
PERSI SATVRA VI
seii ceraso peccent casiae, nescire paratus :
"tune bona incolumis minuas ?" et Bestius ui-guet
doctores Graios : " ita fit ; postquam sapere urbi
cum pipere et palmis venit nostrum hoc maris
expers,
faenisecae crasso vitiarunt unguine pultes." 40
haec cinere ulterior metuas ? at tu, meus heres
quisquis eris, paulum a turba seductior audi.
O bone, num. ignoras ? missa est a Caesare laurus
insignem ob cladem Germanae pubis, et aris
frigidus excutitur cinis ac iam postibus arma, 45
iam chlamydas regum, iam lutea gausapa captis
essedaque ingentesque locat Caesonia Rhenos.
dis igitur genioque ducis centum paria ob res
egregie gestas induco. quis vetat ? aude.
vae, nisi conives ! oleum artocreasque popello 50
largior. an prohibes? die clare "non adeo," inquis,
1 The name Bestius is taken from the corrector Bestius of
Horace {Epp. I. xv. 37), and is used to represent the vulgar
irrelevant critic, who connects all the evils of his day with
the bringing in of new-fangled Greek learning along with
foreign articles like pepper, dates, etc. " Your heir will
snarl," says Persius, "and Bestius will talk drivel; but
why should that trouble you in the grave?" Sapere of
course has a punning meaning, referring to Greek Philosophy
as well as to the smack of dates and pepper.
2 The words maris expers are taken from Horace (Chium
maris expers, )Sa<.ii.viii.l5), but the context is quite different
from the Horatian. They have been usually explained as
meaning "destitute of salt," and therefore "tasteless," or
foolish. But Professor Housman has shown that Casaubon'a
rendering, "destitute of virility," gives the true meaning
(I.e. pp. 27-28). Bestius complains that modern Greek ideas
396
PERSIUS, SATIRE VI
not caring to enquire whether the cinnamon has lost
its fragrance or the casia lias been adulterated with
cherry. "What? " he will say, "are you to squander
your property, and not suffer for it?" And then
Bestius x has his fling at the Greek philosophers :
" It's always so ; ever since this emasculated 2 wisdom
of ours entered the city along with dates and pepper,
our haymakers have spoilt their porridge with thick
oils!" — What? are you to be afraid of taunts like
these on the other side of the grave ? And as for you,
my heir, whoever you may be, come away from the
crowd for one moment and listen : — 3
43 Have you not heard the news, my good fellow ?
A laurelled despatch has arrived from Caesar because
of a splendid victory over the Germans ; the cold
ashes are being raked out from the altars ; Caesonia4
is contracting for arms to put up over the gates, with
regal mantles, and yellow perukes for the prisoners,
and chariots, and life-sized effigies of the Rhine.5
So in honour of the Gods and the Genius of our
General, I am putting on a hundred pairs of gladia-
tors to celebrate these grand doings. Who dares to
say me nay ? Woe to you if you don't fall in with
my humour ! I am giving the mob a largess of oil
and bread and meat. Do you forbid ? Speak out
plainly. " No, no," you say, " that field there close by
have destroyed the old robustness of Rome : even the rustics
have corrupted the homely porridge by mixing with it scented
oils.
3 Persius remonstrates with his heir. On an occasion of
national rejoicing, he intends to spend freely and patriotically
(43-51). 4 Caligula's wife.
5 Besides actual trophies, pictures illustrative of the recent
campaign, and even pictures of rivers, were carried in a
triumphal procession.
397
PERSI SATVRA VI
"exossatus ager iuxta est." age, si mihi nulla
iam reliqua ex ainitis, patruelis nulla, proneptis
nulla manet patrui, sterilis matertera vixit,
deque avia nihilum superest, accedo Bovillas 55
clivumque ad Virbi, praesto est milii Manius heres.
"progenies terrae ?" quaere ex me quis mihi quartus
sit pater: haut prompte, dicam tamen; adde etiam
unum,
unum etiam : terrae est iam Alius, et mihi ritu
Manius hie generis prope maior avunculus exit. 60
qui prior es, cur me in decursu lampada poscis ?
sum tibi Mercurius, venio deus hue ego ut ille
pingitur. an renuis ? vis tu gaudere relictis ?
" dest aliquid summae." minui mihi, sed tibi totum
est
quidquid id est. ubi sit, fuge quaerere, quod mihi
quondam 65
1 This obscure phrase has been variously explained. Exos-
satus means "cleared of bones." Some interpret "cleared
of stones," i.e. good land prepared for a crop ; others " land
from which the bones, the strength and marrow of the soil,
have been taken," and so "poor land." In line 51 Persius
challenges his heir to reply. Conington takes adeo as a
verb : "I decline the inheritance," says the heir ; to which
Persius replies, " Here is a field, now, cleared for ploughing,"
for which I can easily find an heir. Professor Housman
follows an interpretation given by Hermann : Persius says
to his heir, "Do you forbid my extravagance? Tell me
plainly." " I would rather not," says the heir ; " that field
close by is far too full of stones"; i.e. he is afraid that the
populace will stone him if he lifts his voice against the pro-
39S
PERSIUS, SATIRE VI
is not sufficiently cleared of stones." l Well then, if
none of my paternal aunts survives, if I have no cousin
on my father's side, if my paternal uncle has left
no great-grand-daughters, if my maternal aunt has
died without issue, and there is no living descendant
of my grandmother, I go off to Bovillae and the
hill of Virbius,2 and there I find in Manius an heir
ready to my hand! "What? the son of a clod?"
you say. Well, just ask of me who is my great-
great-grandfather : I could tell you that, though
perhaps not in a moment ; add one step more,
and then again another, and by that time you come
to a son of earth, so that by strict lineal ascent
this Manius turns out to be a kind of great-great-
uncle. Why do you, who are before me, ask for
my torch while I am still running?3 I am for
you a Mercury, I come to you just as that God
is represented in pictures. Do you reject the
gift ? Won't you take what I leave you and be
thankful? — "There is a shortage in the amount,"
you say. Yes ; I lessened it for my own use : but
what remains, whatever it is, is all for you. Don't
posed entertainment (I.e. p. 29). "Very well," says Persius,
" I can find another heir elsewhere."
2 i.e. the clivus Aricinus, near Bovillae, which was a great
resort for beggars. Virbius, another name for Hippolytus,
was worshipped at Aricia along with Diana.
3 This line is evidently based on Lucretius, ii. 77 : Inque
brevi spatio mulantur saecla animantvm, Et quasi cursores
vitai lampada tradunt. The idea is that of passing on a
blazing torch from one hand to another ; but it is not easy
to reconcile the words qui prior es with the accounts given of
the Athenian \a/j.-naSr]:popia. See Diet. Ant. It is not im-
possible that Persius, whose phrases are taken from books
rather than life, copied the phrase of Lucretius without quite
realising its meaning.
399
PERSI SATVRA VI
legarat Tadius, neu dicta repone x paterna,
" faenoris accedat merces, hinc exime sumptus,"
"quid reliqumest?" reliqum? nunc nunc inpen-
sius ungue,
ungue, puer, caules ! milii festa luce coquatur
urtica et fissa fumosum sinciput aure, 70
ut tuus iste nepos olim satur anseris extis,
cum morosa vago singultiet inguine vena,
patriciae inmeiat vulvae ? mini trama figurae
sit reliqua, ast illi tremat omento popa venter ?
Vende animam lucro, mercare atque excute
sollers '5
omne latus mundi, ne sit praestantior alter
Cappadocas rigida pinguis plausisse catasta,
rem duplica. " feci ; iam triplex, iam mihi quarto,
iam decies redit in rugam." depunge ubi sistam :
inventus, Chrysippe, tui finitor acervi. 80
1 repone L and old edd. Biich. has neu dicta " pone paterna
. . . sumptus." "quid reliqum est?" Housm. suggests
neu die ita, "pone paterna . . . reliqum est." reliqum? and
explains, "Do not say 'state what you inherited, add in-
terest, subtract expenditure, and see how much is left.' Left,
quotha?" {I.e. p. 31). ita then means "as follows." Biich.
takes pone to mean "invest."
1 Cappadocian slaves, being tall, were much prized as
litter-bearers.
400
PERSIUS, SATIRE VI
ask where is the sum that Tadius left me long ago,
and don't serve up to me your paternal saws: — " Let
interest accrue on your capital, and take your ex-
penses out of that." — "Yes, and what will be left?"
" Left," do you ask ? Here, boy, drench the cabbage
with oil, and d — n the expense ! Am I to have my
holiday dinner off nettles and a smoked pig's cheek
with his ear split through, in order that some day or
other your young ne'er-do-weel may regale himself
on a goose's liver? . . . Am I to be reduced to a
thread-paper while his belly is to wag with fat like
that of a priest ?
•6 Go, sell your soul for gain ; buy and sell ; ransack
cunningly every corner of the earth, let no one out-
strip you in patting fat Cappadocian 1 slaves in their
pen ; turn every coin into two. " Done already,"
you say ; " with a threefold, fourfold, ay, and a ten-
fold increase." 2 Mark the point at which I am to
stop, and the finisher of your heap,3 Chrysippus, will
have been found !
2 Ruga is a "crease," or "fold," so that redire decies in
rugam expresses exactly "a ten-fold increase." Many editors
have wrongly explained the word as the fold or sinus in the
toga, and so = "a purse."
3 Referring to the well-known Sorites, the fallacy of the
heap : Dwm cadat elusus ratione mentis acervi (Hor. Epp. II.
i. 47). The analogous fallacy demonstrating the impossibility
of motion was met by the famous " solvitur ambulando."
401
D O
INDEXES
D D 2
INDEX TO JUVENAL
Abdera, p. 194 n., p. 197 n.
Accius, VI. 70
Acestes, VII. 235
Achilles, in. 280, VII. 210, VIII. 271,
X. 256, XI. 30, XIV. 214, and
notes on pp. 7, 146, 155, 181, 222
Acilius, iv. 94
Acilius Ulabrio p. 64 n.
Acoeuoetus, p. 155 n.
Actium, II. 109, p. 178 n.
Actor, II. 100, p. 25 n.
Aeacus, I. 10, vm. 270, p. 181 n.
Aegean Sea, p. 8 n.
Aelia, VI. 72
Aemilianus, vm. 3, p. 158 n.
Aemilius, VII. 124, p. 147 n.
Aemilius Juncus, p. 291 n.
Aeneas, I. 162, V. 139, XV. 67,
p. 73 n., p. 225 n.
Aeolus, I. 8
Aethiopia, X. 150
Aetna, p. 159 n.
Airanius, p. 294 n.
Atrica, VII. 149, vm. 120, X. 148,
and notes on pp. 6, 148, 167
Agamemnon, xiv. 286, and notes on
pp. 175, 244, 285
Aganippe, vn. 6
Agathyrsians, XV. 125
Agave, VII. 87
Agrigentum, p. 123 n., p. 164 n.
Agrippa, VI. 159
Agrippa II., p. 95 n.
Agrippa, Portico of, p. 95 n.
Agrippina, VI. 620, p. 80 n.,
p. 134 n.
Ajax, VII. 115, X. 84, XIV. 213,
XV. 65, and notes on pp. 146,
199, 222, 285
Alabanda, in. 70
Alba, IV. 61, V. 83
Alban Mount, p. 2*0 n.
Albanian, xm. 214
Albina, in. 130
Alcestis, vi. 652
Alcinous, XV. 15
Alexander, xiv. 311, p. 206 n.
Alledius, v. 118
Allia, p. 177 n.
Allobrogicus, vm. 13
Allobrogus, p. 155 n.
Alps, X. 152, 166, XIII. 162
Amphion, VI. 174, p. 97 n.
Amydon, in. 69
Anchises, VII. 234
Ancona, rv. 40
Ancus, v. 57
Andromache, VI. 503, p. 124 n.
Andros, III. 70
Antaeus, m. 89, p. 38 n.
Antony, x. 123, p. 19 n., p. 166 n.
Anticyra, XIII. 97
Antigone, vm. 229
Antilochus, X. 253
Antiochus, III. 98
Antiphates, xiv. 20
Antonia, p. 175 w.
Antonius, vm. 105
Anubis, VI. 534, p. 126 n.
Apicius, IV. 23, XI. 3
Apis, p. 160 n.
Apollo, I. 128, VI. 171, 174, VII. 37,
XIII. 203, and notes on pp. 13, 97,
142, 181
Appian Way, p. 32 n.
Apulia, IX. 55
Aqua Marcia, p. 33 n.
Aquinum, m. 319, p. 57 ij.
Arabarch, I. 130
Arabia, p. 231 n.
Arachne, II. 56
Archigenes, VI. 236, Xln. 98, XIV.
252
Argonauts, p. 95 n.
Aristotle, n. 6, p. 258 n.
Armillatus, IV. 53
Arpinum, vm. 237, 245
Artaxata, n. 170
4o5
INDEX TO JUVENAL
Artemis, p. 97 n., p. 297 n.
Artorius, ill. 29
Arviragus, IV. 127
Asia, v. 56, vn. 14, X. 260
Assaracus, X. 259
Assouan, p. 230 n.
Astrea, vi. 19, p. 84 n.
Asturicus, III. 212
Asylus, VI. 267
Athene, p. 22 n.
Athens, VI. 187, VII. 205, X. 127,
XV. 110, p. 25 n., p. 136 n.
Athos, X. 174
Atlas, VIII. 32, XI. 24, XIII. 48
Atticus, XI. 1
Aufldius, IX. 25
Augustus, p. 21 n.
Aurelia, v. 98, p. 77 n.
Aurunca, I. 20
Automedon, I. 61
Autonoe, VI. 72
Aventine, in. 85
Azov, p. 297 n.
Babylon, p. 206 n., p. 207 re.
Bacchanals, II. 3
Baetica, XII. 42, p. 238 n.
Baiae, in. 4, XI. 49
Baptae, II. 92
Baptism, p. 272 n.
Barea, vn. 91
Barea Soranus, p. 41 re.
Basilus, vn. 145, 146, 147, X. 222
Bassus, p. 154 n.
Batavians, vm. 51
Bathyllus, VI. 63
Bebriacum, n. 106
Bellerophon, X. 325, p. 217 rt.
Bellona, IV. 124, VI. 511
Bolus, VI. 655, p. 137 n.
Berenice, VI. 156, p. 96 m.
Bibula, VI. 142
Bithynia, vn. 15, p. 205 n.
Bona Dea,p. 18n.,p. 24 w., p. Ill n.
Bootes, V. 23
Bosporus, p. 290n.
Brigante3, XIV. 196
Britain, XV. Ill
Britannicus, vi. 124, p. 92 re.
Britons, II. 161, XV. 124
Brutidius, x. 83
Brutus, IV. 103, V. 37, VIU. 182,
xrv. 43, p. 64 re.
Bulla, p. 83 n., p. 249 n.
406
Caeus, v. 125
Caecilius, xvi. 46
Caedicius, xni. 197
Caesar, vn. 1, vm. 171, xu. 106,
p. 24 re., p. 201 re.
Caesonia, VI. 616
Caieta, xiv. 87
Calagurris, p. 294 n.
Calenian Wine, I. 70, p. 8 re.
Caligula, and notes on pp. 6, 133
154, 155
Calliope, IV. 34
Calpe, XIV. 279
Calvina, in. 133
Calvinus, xni. 5
Camerini, vn. 90
Camerinus, vm. 38
Camillus, II. 154, XVI. 15
Campania, X. 283
Campus Martius, p. 28 n., p. 126 re.
Campi Raudii, p. 214 n.
Cannae, VII. 163, X. 165, XI. 200
Canopus, I. 26, VI. 84, XV. 46
Cantabrian, XV. 108
Cantabrians, p. 296 n.
Captatores, p. 76 n.
Capito, vm. 93, p. 246 re.
Capitolinij II. 145
Cappadocia, vn. 15
Capreae, p. 198 n.
Capri, X. 72, 93
Carflnia, II. 69
Carpophorus, VI. 199
Carrinas, p. 154 n. #
Carthage, vi. 171, x. 277
Cassandra, x. 262
Cassius, v. 37
Castor, xm. 152, XIV. 260, p. 282 n.
Catana, p. 159 n.
Catiena, hi. 133
Catiline, II. 27, vm. 231, X. 287,
XIV. 41, p. 177 n., p. 215 n.
Cato, II. 40, XI. 90
Catulla, X. 322
Catullus, iv. 113, vm. 186, xn. 29,
37, 93, XIII. Ill, p. 84 n.
Catulus, 11. 146, in. 30, p. 179 re.
Cecropid, vm. 53
Cecropidae, vm. 46
Cecrops, p. 25 n.
Celadus, vn. 215
Celsus, VI. 245
Censennia, VI. 136
Census Equestris, p. 10 re.
Centaur, p. 155 re.
INDEX TO JUVENAL
Centaurs, p. 2 n., p. 239 n.
Centurion, Senior, p. 278 n.
Ceres, III. 320, VI. 50, X. 112, XIV.
219, 263, XV. 141, p. 57 n.
Cethegus, n. 27, vra. 231, x. 287,
p. 177 n.
Chaerippus, vm. 95, p. 165 n.
Charon, p. 165 n.
Charybdis, v. 102, xv. 17
Chatti, IV. 147, p. 68 n.
Chiron, in. 205, p. 155 n.
Christian martyrs, I. 155
Chrysippus, n. 5, xm. 184
Chrysogonus, VI. 74, vn. 176,
p. 152 n.
Circe, XV. 21, p. 290 n.
Circeii, iv. 140
Cicero, VII. 139, 214, X. 114, and
notes on pp. 145, 154, 167, 177,
202
Cicero, the Allobrogian, vn. 214
Cilicia, notes on, pp. 164, 166, 282
Cilicians, vm. 94
Cirabrians, XV. 124
Cimbri, vm. 249, 251, p. 179 n.
Cirrha, vn. 64
Claudius, V. 147, VI. 115, XIV. 330,
and notes on pp. 50, 51, 134, 144,
176, 217, 241, 270, 288
Cleanthes, II. 7, p. 17 n.
Cleopatra, II. 109
Clio, VII. 7, p. 141 n.
Clitumnus, xn. 13
Clodius, II. 27, VI. 338, 345, and
notes on pp. 18, 24, 111, 181
Clotho, IX. 135
Cluvienus, i. 80
Clytemnaestra, VI. 656, p. 137 ».,
p. 175 n.
Codes, vm. 264
Codrus, III. 203, 208
Colchis, XIV. 114
Colline Gate, p. 106 «.
Color, p. 105 n.
Concord, Temple of, p. 13 n.
Conopeum, p. 88 n.
Coptus, XV. 28
Coranus, xvi. 53 "
Corbulo, in. 251
Cordus, I. 2
Corinthus, vm. 197
Cornelia, vi. 167
Corsica, v. 92
Corus, x. 180
Corvinus, 1. 108, Tin. 5, xn. 1, 93
Corybants, v. 25
Corycus, p. 282 n.
Corydon, ix. 102
Coryphaeus, vm. 62
(Jossus, in. 184, vin. 21, x. 202
Cotta, V. 109, vn. 95, p. 145 n.
Cotytto, II. 92, p. 25 n.
Crassi, x. 108
Cremera, II. 155
Crepereius Pollio, ix. 6
Crete, xiv. 270, p. 249 n., p. 284 n.
Creticus, n. 67, 78, VIII. 38
Cretonius, xiv. 86
Crispinus, I. 27, IV. 1, 14, 108
Crispus, IV. 81, p. 63 n.
Croesus, x. 274, xiv. 328
Cumae, in. 2, 321, ix. 57
Curii, II. 3
Curius, n. 153, vm. 4, XI. 78
Curtius, XI. 34
Cyane, vm. 162
Cybele, n. Ill, xiv. 263, p. 234 n.
Cyclades, p. 129 n.
Cyclopes, xv. 18
Cylindrus, p. 22 n.
Cydnus, p. 41 n.
Cymbeline, p. 67 n.
Cynics, xm. 121, 122, p. 254 n.
Cynthia, vi. 7, p. 84 n.
Daedalus, m. 25, p. 7 n., p. 38 n.
Damasippus, vm. 185
Danaids, p. 137 n.
Danaus, p. 137 n.
Danube, vm. 170
Decii, vm. 254, 25S, Xiv. 239
Delta, p. 292 n.
Demetrius, in. 99
Democritus, x. 34, p. 194 n..
p. 197 n.
Demosthenes, x. 114, p. 203 n.
Dendyra, p. 291 n.
Deucalion, i. 81
Diana, in. 320, X. 292, XV. 8
Dido, VI. 435
Diogenes, p. 286 n.
Diomede, I. 53, p. 293 n.
Dion Cassius, p. 198 n.
Dionysus, p. 106 n., p. 142 n.
Diphilus, m. 120
Dolabella, vm. 106, p. 166 n.
Domitian, notes on pp. 5, 19, 60. 65
69, 115, 144, 257
Domitius, vm. 228
407
INDEX TO JUVENAL
Doris, III. 94
Drusi, vni. 40
Drusu3, ill. 238, VIII. 21
Furies, XIII. 51, xrv. 285, XVI. 46
Fuscinus, xiv. 1
Fuscus, iv. 112, xn. 45, p. 65 n.
Enro, p. 294 n.
Echlon, VI. 76
Egeria, III. 17 ,
Egypt, VI. 527, XV. 2, 45, 116, and
notes on pp. 13, 258, 291
Electra, vni. 218
Elephants, p. 242 n.
Eleusinian mysteries, p. 298 n. .
Elpenor, XV. 22
Endromis, p. 102 n.
Endymion, X. 318
England, p. 278 n.
Epictetus, p. 235 n.
Epicurus, XIII. 122, XIV. 319
Eppia, VI. 82, 104, 114
Equites, p. 200 n.
Eriphyle, VI. 655, p. 137 n.
Esquiline, in. 71, v. 78, XI. 51
Etruria, XIII. 62, p. 199 n.
Euganei, p. 159 n.
Euphranor, in. 217
Euphrates, I. 104, vni. 61
Europa, Vin. 34
Eurus, X. 180
Euryalus, vi. 81
Evander, XI. 61, p. 224 n.
Fabii, n. 146, p. 31 n., p. 159 n.
Fabrateria, III. 224
Fabricius, IX. 142, XI. 91
Fabius, VII. 95, vni. 14, 191, XI. 90,
p. 159 n.
Fabius Gurges, vi. 266
Fabulla, II. 68
Faesidius, xni. 32
Falernian, iv. 138, an. 216, p. 8 n.
Faustus, VII. 12, p. 168 n.
Fidenae, VI. 57, X. 100, p. 201 n.
Flaminian Way, I. 61, 171
Flavii, IV. 37
Floralia, VI. 250, XIV. 262, p. 102 n.
Fonteius, xn. 17
Fortune, in. 40, x. 366, xiv. 316,
p. 132 n., p. 199 n., p. 270 n.
Forum, p. 282 n.
Forum Augusti, p. 282 n.
Forum Boarium, p. 107 n.
Fronto, I. 12
Frusino, in. 224
408
Gabba, V. 4, p. 69 n.
Gabii, ill. 192, VI. 56, VII. 4, X. 100,
p. 201 n.
Gades, x. 1
Gaeticulus, VIII. 26
Galba, II. 104, VIII. 5, 222, p. 128 n.,
p. 176 n.
Galerus or -um, p. 174 n.
Galla, 1. 125
Gallicus, XIII. 157
Gallitta, xn. 99, 113
Gallius, xvi. 1
Gallus, VII. 144
Ganges, x. 2
Ganymede, V. 59, IX. 22
Gaul, VII. 16, 148, VIII. 116, XV. H1
p. 148 n., p. 177 n.
Gauls, XI. 113
Gaurus, IX. 57, p. 164 n.
German, p. 68 n.
Germans, xm. 164
Gibraltar, p. 284 n.
Gillo, I. 40
Glaphyrus, VI. 77
Gorgon, in. 118, xn. 4, p. 230 n.
Gracchi, I. 24, VI. 168
Gracchus, n. 117, p. 27 n., II. 143,
vni. 201, 210, and notes on pp. 27,
29, 174
Gradivus, 11. 127
Greece, xiv. 240, p. 17 n.
Greeks, ill. 61
Guadalquiver, p. 238 n.
Gyara, 1. 73, x. 170
Hades, p. 2 n.
Haemus, III. 99, VI. 198
Hamillus, X. 224
Hammon, VI. 555
Hannibal, VI. 169, 291, VII. 161,
X. 147, XII. 108, p. 106 n.,
p. 297 n.
Hebe, p. 249 n.
Hector, X. 259, p. 124 n.
Hecuba, p. 213 n.
Hedymeles, vi. 383
Helicon, p. 138 n.
Heliodorus, VI. 373
Helvidius, V. 36
INDEX TO JUVENAL
Hercules, I. 52, in. 89, v. 125, vni.
14, X. 361, XIII. 43, 82, 151, XIV.
90, 280, and notes on pp. 16, 38,
159, 224, 225, 270
Hermarchus, in. 120
Ilermes, vm. 53
Hermione, p. 175 «.
Herodotus, p. 298 n.
Hesperides, xiv. 114, p. 80 n.
Hibernia, VI. 53
Hippolytus, X. 325, p. 217 n.
Hirpinus, Vin. 63
Hirrus, x. 222
Hispulla, VI. 74, xn. 11
Hister, II. 58
Homer, VI. 437, VII. 38, X. 246,
XV. 69, p. 175 n., p. 258 n.
Horace, VII. 62, 227, p. 7 n.,p. 145 n.
Horatius Codes, p. 180 n.
Humber, p. 278 n.
Hyacinth, VI. 110
Hylas, I. 164
Hymettus, xni. 185
Icarus, p. 7 n.
Iceland, p. 297 ft.
Ida, xni. 41, p. 249 n.
Iliad, XI. 181
Ilion, X. 261
Io, VI. 526
Iphigenia, XII. 119, p. 245 ft.
Isaeus, III. 74, p. 36 n.
Isis, VI. 489, 529, IX. 22, XII. 28,
XIII. 93, p. 126 ft.
Italians, p. 72 n.
Italy, X. 153, XII. 78, p. 214 ».
Itys, p. 136 n.
lulus, VIII. 42, XII. 70
Ixion, p. 250 ft.
Janus, VI. 386, 394
Jason, vi. 153, p. 2 n., p. 95 ft.
Jerusalem, p. 96 n.
Jews in. 14, and notes on pp. 127,
270, 271, 272
Johnson's London, p. 37 n.
John the Baptist, p. 272 n.
Joseph, p. 217 n.
Josephus, p. 96 n.
Jove, VI. 15, VIII. 156, X. 38, 268,
XIV. 81, 206, 271
Julia, n. 32, p. 19 n., p. 161 n.
Julian Law, II. 37, VI. 38, p. 21 n.
Julius Alexander, p. 13 n.
Juncus, xv. 27
Juno, II. 98, VI. 48, 619, VII. 32,
XIII. 40, p. 126 ft., p. 302 n.
Jupiter, VI. 59, X. 188, XI. 116,
XII. 89, XIII. 41, 114
Juverna, II. 160
Lachesis, IX. 136
Ladas, XIII. 97
Laelius, xrv. 195
Laenas, v. 98, p. 77 n.
Laertes, p. 212 n.
Laestrygones, xv. 18, p. 265 n.
Lagos, VI. 83
Lamiae, IV. 154
Lapithae, p. 2 n.
Lares, IX. 137, XII 89, 113, xni. 233
Larga, XIV. 25
Laterani, x. 17
Lateranus, VIII. 147, 167
Latinus, VI. 44
Latin War, p. 179 n.
Latin Way, v. 55
Latium, VI. 637, XII. 103, p. 201 n.
Latona, VI. 176, x. 292
Laurentum, p. 242 n.
Laureolus, VIII. 187
Lavinum, xil. 71
Leda, VI. 63
Lentulus, VI. 80, VII. 95, vm. 187,
X. 286
Lentulus Spinther, p. 145 n.
Lepidus, VI. 265, vni. 9, p. 19 n.
Lesbia, VI. 7, p. 84 n.
Leto, p. 97 n.
Leucas, vm. 241, p. 178 n.
Lex Cincia, p. 147 «.
Libya, V. 119, p. 236 n.
Licinus, I. 109, XIV. 306, p. 11 n.
Lipari, p. 249 n.
Livy, p. 195 n.
Longinus, X. 16
Lucan, VII. 79, p. 143 n., p. 271 n.
Lucifer, vm. 12
Lucilius, I. 165, p. 4n., p. 15 n.
Lucretia, X. 293
Lucusta, I. 71
Lugdunum, I. 44
Luperci, p. 28 n.
Lycisca, VI. 123
Lyde, n. 141
Lydia, p. 213 n., p. 286 n.
Lyons, p. 6 n.
4C9
INDEX TO JUVENAL
Macedonia, p. 178 n.
Machaera, vn. 9
Maecenas, I. 66, vn. 94, xn. 39
Maenads, vi. 317
Maeotis, rv. 42
Mamerci, vm. 192
Manilia, VI. 243
Manius Curius Dentatus, p. 226 n.
Marcelli, II. 145
Marius, I. 49, vin. 120, p. 179 n.
Maro, XI. 180
Mars, I. 8, II. 31, VI. 59, X. 314,
xni. 79, 113, Xiv. 261, xvi. 5,
and notes on pp. 27, 132, 228,
282
Marsyas, IX. 2
Massa, I. 35
Matho, I. 32, VII. 129, XI. 34
Maura, VI. 307, X. 224
Medea, p. 136 n.
Med'illina, VI. 322
Megalesian games, p. 234 n.
Melanippa, vin. 229
Meleager, v. 115
Memnon, xv. 5, p. 289 n.
Memphis, XV. 122
Menoeceus, XIV. 240
Mentor, Vin. 104
Meroe, VI. 528, XIII. 163
Messalina, x. 333, and notes on vv,
92, 217, 288
Messaliuus, p. 65 n.
Meta, p. 130 n.
Metellus, VI. 265, XV. 109, p. 42 n.
p. 296 n.
Mevia, I. 22
Miletus, VI. 296. v. 259 n.
Milo, II. 26, p. '18 n.
Minerva, III. 139, 219, X. 116,
XIII. 82
Minturnae, X. 276
Misenum. p. 32 n.
Mitliridates, xiv. 252, p. 137 n
p. 213 n.
Modia, III. 130
Molossians, xiv, 162
Monychus, I. 11
Mons Viminalis, p. 36 n.
Montanus, iv. 107, 131
Moors, xiv. 196
Moses, xiv. 102
Mucius, I. 154, vm, 264
Murmillo, p. 89 n.
Muses, vn. 37, p, 138 n.
Mycale, v. 141
4IO
Mycenae, xn. 127
Myron, vm. 102
Nabataei, p. 231 n.
Naevolus, ix. 1, 91
Naids, p. 16 n.
Narcissus, xrv. 329, p. 288 n.
Natta, VIII. 96, p. 165 n.
Neptune, xm. 81, 152
Nero, rv. 137, vm. 72, 193, 212,
223, X. 15, 308, XII. 129, and
notes on pp. 8, 15, 51, 72, 121,
144, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 193
Nestor, vi. 326, xn. 127, p. 210 n.,
p. 212 n.
Nile, I. 26', VI. 83, X. 149, xm. 27,
XV. 123, and notes on pp. 5, 128,
248, 258, 292
Nineveh, p. 220 n.
Ninus, p. 26 n.
Niobe, VI. 177, p. 96 n.
Niphates, vi. 411
Nortia, X. 74, p. 199 n.
Novius, xn. Ill
Numa, III. 12,138, VI. 342, VIII. 156
Numantia, p. 158 n.
Numidia, p. 209 n.
Numitor, vn. 74, vm. 93
Nysa, vn. 64
Octavia, p. 175 n.
Octavius, vm. 242, p. 19 n.
Ogulnia, VI. 352
Olympian games, p. 252 n.
Olynthus, xn. 47
Ombi. xv. 35, p. 291 n.
Ombites, xv. 75
Oppia, X. 220, 322
Orcades, 11. 161
Orestes, 1. 6, vm. 220, and notes on
pp. 175, 284, 304
Orontes, in. 62
Osiris, VI. 541, vm. 29, p. 120 n.,
p. 160 n.
Ostia, vm. 171, p. 241 n.
Otho, 11. 99, VI. 559, xiv. 324, and
notes on pp. 25, 26, 44, 128
Ovid, p. 98, n., p. 145 n.
Paccius, vn. 12
Partus, xn. 99
Pactolus, Xiv. 299
Pacuvius, XII. 125, 128
Pacuvius Hister, xn. Ill
INDEX TO JUVENAL
Palaemon, VI. 452, vn. 215, 219,
p. 120, n., p. 155 n.
Palfurius, iv. 53
Pallas, I. 109, and notes on pp. 11.
157, 236
Pauclion, p. 136 n.
Pansa, vm. 96, p. 165 n.
Paris, VI. 87, vn. 87, x. 264, xn.
44, p. 144 «., p. 154 n.
Parrhasius, vm. 102
Parricide, p. 174 n.
Paulus, n. 146, vn. 143, vm. 21
Paulus Fabius Maxim us, p. 145 n,
Pedo, vn. 129
Pegasus, rv. 77
Peleus, X. 256, XIV. 214
Pella, X. 168
Pelopea, VII. 92
Penelope, II. 56
Peribomius, n. 16
Persicus, III. 221, XI. 57
Petosiris, VI. 581
Phaeacians xv. 23, p. 290 n.
Phalaris, vill. 81, p. 123 n.
Pharos, vi. 83
PharsaKa, p. 143 n.
Pharsalia, Battle of, p. 178 n.
Phiale, x. 238
Phidias, vm. 103
Philip of Macedon, p. 239 n.
Philippi, Battles of, p. 178 n.
Philippus, xin. 125
Philomela, VII. 92
Phoebus, VII. 233
Pholus, XII. 45
Picemim, iv. 65, XI. 74
Picus, vm. 131
Piso, v. 109, p. 193 n.
Pittacus, II. 6
Pluto, XIII. 50, p. 201 n.
Plautius Lateranus, p. 193 n.
Pollio, vi. 387, VII. 176, XI. 43,
p. 115 n., p. 152 n.
Pollittae, n. 68
Polyclitus, in. 217, vm. 103
Polyphemus, IX. 64, XIV. 20
Polyxena, x. 262
Pornpeia, p. 24 n.
Pompeii, x. 108
Pompeius, IV. 110
Pompey, x. 283, p. 214 n.
Pontia, VI. 666
Ponticus, vm. 1, 75, 179
Pontus, VI. 661, x. 273
Poppaea, p. 121 n.
Poppysma, p. 130 n.
Porta Capena, in. 11, p. 32 n.
Portus Augusti, p. 241 n.
Posides, xiv. 91
Postumus, vi. 21
Praeneste, m. 190, p. 270 n.
Priam, VI. 326, x. 258, p. 213 n.
Priapus, VI. 316
Prochyta, m. 5
Procne, vi. 644, p. 136 n.
Procula, in. 203
Proculae, n. 68
Proculeius, I. 40, vn. 94, p. 145 n
Prometheus, iv. 133, VIII. 133.
XV. 85, p. 266 n.
Propertius, p. 84 n.
Protogenes, in. 120
Prusias l.,p. 205 n.
Psecas, vi. 491, 494
Ptolemy, p. 128 n.
Publitis Decius Mus, p. 179 n.
Publius Egnatius Celer, p. 40 »
Pudicitia, p. 107 n.
Pylades, xvi. 26
Pylos, x. 246
Pyrenees, x. 151
Pyrrha, i. 84, xiv. 162, xv. 30,
p. 244 n., p. 226 n.
Pythagoras, xv. 173
Pythagoreans, hi. 229
Quintilian, VI. 75, 280, vn. 180, 190,
p. 88 n.
Quirini, xi. 105
Quirinus, m. 67, VIII. 259
Qtnrites, III. 60, X. 109
Ravola, ix. 4
Remus, x. 73
Rhadamanthus, xm. 197
Rhine, vm. 170, p. 68 n.
Rhodes, vi. 296, p. 152 n.
Rhodope, ix. 4
Richborough, p. 68 n.
Rome, II. 39, in. 41, 83, 165, 183,
319, IV. 38, V. 58, VII. 4 138
Vin. 243, XI. 46, 197, and notes
°^P?™7> 32' 61» 62> 68> 131>
loo, 170
Rubellius Blandus, vm. 39, p. 161 n.
Rubrenus Lappa, vn. 72
Rubrius, iv. 105
Rufus, vn. 213, 214, p. 155 n.
Rutila, x. 294
411
INDEX TO JUVENAL
Rutulians, p. 16 n.
Rutilius Gallieus, p. 257 n.
Rutilus, XI. 2, 5, 21, XIV. 18
Rutupiae, IV. 140
Sabbath, the, p. 273 n.
Sabine, ill. 85
Sabines, X. 299
Saburra, ni. 5
Saguntum, p. 297 n.
Salamis, X. 179
Saleius, VII. 80
Samoa, in. 70, xvi. 6
Samothrace, in. 144
Sardanapalus, x. 362
Sarmatia, IT. 1
Sarmentus, v. 3, p. 69 n.
Sartorius, vi. 142
Saturn, VI. 570, XIII. 40, p. 168 n.
Saturnalia, p. 94 n., p. 145 n.
Saufeia, VI. 320, ix. 117
Scaevola, p. 15 n.
Scantinian Law, II. 44
Scauri, II. 35, VI. 604
Scaurus, xi. 91
Scipio, II. 154, and notes on pp. 42,
96, 158
Scylla, XV. 19
Scythians, XV. 125
Secundus Carrinas, VII. 205
Seius IV 13
Sejan'us.'x. 63, 66, 76, 89, 90, 104,
p. 198 n., p. 199 n.
Seleucus, x. 211
Semiramis, n. 108
Seneca, V. 109, VIII. 212, X. 16,
p. 174 n.
Sentinum, p. 179 n.
Sergius, VI. 105, 112
Seriphos, VI. 564, X. 170
Serpho, p. 129 n.
Serranus, vn. 80
Sertorius, p. 294 n., p. 296 n.
Servilia, X. 319
Servius Tulliua, p. 131 n., p. 179 n.
Setia, V. 34
Sextus, II. 21
Shetland, p. 297 n.
Sibyl, in. 3, vni. 126
Sicily, p. 76 n.
Sicvon, III. 69
Sigillaria, p. 94 n.
Sicnia, XI. 73
Silanus, VIII. 27
Silius, p. 217 n.
Silvanus, vi. 447, p. 120 n.
Siparium, p. 172 n.
Sirens, p. 192 n.
Sisyphu3, p. 250 n.
Social Wars, the, p. 72 n.
Socrates, XIV. 320, p. 154 n ,
p. 259 n.
Solon, X. 274
Sora, III. 223
Sostratus, x. 178
Spain, VIII. 116, X. 161, p. 148 n.,
p. 238 n.
Sportula, p. 196 n.
Statius, VII. 83, p. 144 n.
Stentor, XIII. 112
Stephanus, p. 09 n.
Stheneboea, x. 327
Stoic, xv. 109, and notes on pp. 17,
18, 258, 296
Stoics, II. 65, XIII. 121, p. 72 n.,
p. 153 n.
Stratocles, in. 99
Styx, p. 165 n.
Subura, V. 106, X. 156, XI. 51, 141
Sulla, I. 16, II. 28, p. 4 «., p. 19 n.
Sulmo, VI. 187, p. 98 n.
Sybaris, vi. 296
Sycambri, IV. 147, p. 69 n.
Syene, xi. 124, p. 230 n.
Syphax, vi. 170
Syria, xi. 73
Tacitus, p. 198 n., p. 273 n.
Tagus, III. 55, XIV. 299
Tanaquil, VI. 566, p. 129 n.
Tarentum, VI. 297, p. 106 n.
Tarquin, p. 64 n.
Tarquinius Priscus, p. 129 n.
Tarsus, p. 41 n.
Tatius, Xiv. 160
Tauromenium, v. 93, p. 76 n.
Teius, IV. 13
Telamon, xiv. 214
Telephus, I. 5
Telesinus, VII. 25
Tentyra, xv. 35, 76, p. 291 n.
Tereus, p. 136 n.
Terpsichore, vn. 35
Teutones, p. 179 n.
Thabraca, x. 194
Thais, III. 93, VI. O 26-
Thales, xm. 184
Thebais, VII. 83, p. 144 n.
412
INDEX TO JUVENAL
Thebes, XIII. 27, Xiv. 240, XV. 6,
and notes on pp. 97, 248, 280, 289
Themis, p. Sin.
Themison, X. 221
Theodoras, vn. 177
Thersites, VIII. 269, 271, XI. 31
Thessaly, vm. 242, p. 132 n.,
p. 178 n.
Thrace, p. 197 n.
Thrasea, V. 36
Thrasyllus, VI. 576
Thrasymachus, vil. 204
Thule, xv. 112
Thyestes, vm. 228
Thymele, I. 36, VI. 66, VIII. 197
Tiber, III. 62, v. 104, VI. 523,
VII. 121, XIV. 202, p. 181 n.
Tiberius, notes on pp. 130, 155, 161,
197, 198, 199
Tibur, XIV. 87, p. 270 n.
Tigellinus, I. 155
Tiresias, XIII. 249, p. 265 n.
Tisiphone, VI. 29
Titans, VIII. 132
Titus, p. 19 n.
Tityus, p. 250 n.
Tivoli, III. 192
Toga picta, p. 195 n.
Toga prsetexta, p. 233 n.
Trajan, p. 98 n., p. 99 n.
Tralles, in. 70
Transylvania, p. 298 n.
Trebius, V. 135
Trechidipnon, p. 36 n.
Triphallus, VI. O 26
Trojans, VII. 236, VIII. 56, p. 213 ».
Tros, p. 213 n.
Troy, p. 47 n.
Trypherus, xi. 137
Tuccia, VI. 64
Tullia, VI. 306
Tullius, VII. 199
Tullus, V. 57
Tunica palmata, p. 194 n.
Turnus, XII. 105, XV. 65, and notes
on pp. 16, 25, 142, 242
Tvdeus, XV. 66
Tyndareus, VI. 657, p. 137 n.
Ucalegon, in. 199
Ulysses, xi. 31, ix. 65, X. 102,
XV. 14, and notes on pp. 192,
201, 212, 285, 290
Umbritius, in. 21
Urbicus, VI. 71
Ursidius, VI. 38, 42
Vagellius, XIII. 119, XVI. 23
Varillus, II. 22
Vatinius, p. 73 n.
Vascones, XV. 93, p. 296 n.
Veiento, rv. 113, IV. 123, vi. 113,
p. 65 n., p. 159 n.
Ventidius, VII. 199, XI. 22
Venus, II. 31, VI. 138, 300, 570,
VII. 25, X. 290, XVI. 5
Venusia, p. In.
Vercellae, p. 214 n.
Verginia, X. £94
Verginius, vm. 221
Verres, II. 26, III. 53, VIII. 106,
p. 167 n.
Vespasian, p. 72 m.
Vesta, IV. 61, VI. 386, p. 61 n.
Vestal Virgins, p. 57 n.
Vettius, VII. 150
Vindex, vm. 222, p. 176 n.
Virgil, VI. 435, VII. 69, 227
Virginius Rufus, p. 176 n.
Virgo, p. 85 n.
Virro, V. 39, 43, 99, 114, 128, 134,
149, 156
Vitellius, p. 26 n.
Volesus, vm. 182
Volsinii, HI. 191, p. 199 n.
Volusius, xv. 1
Vulcan, vm. 270, x. 132, xm. 45,
p. 138 n., p. 249 n.
Weser, p. 69 n.
Xerxes, p. 207 n.
Zacynthus, xv. 114, p. 297 n.
Zalaces, n. 164
Zeno, XV. 107, p. 18 n.
Zeus, notes on pp. 84, 249, 284
413
INDEX TO PERSIUS
Accius, I. 76, p. 325 n.
Adeo, p. 394 n., p. 398 n.
Agrigentum, p. 347 n.
Alcibiades, p. 361 n., p. 358 n.
Anticyra, p. 359 n.
Antiope, I. 78, p. 324 n.
Apennines, I. 95
Arcadia, III. 9
Arcesilas, in. 79, p. 351 n.
Arcesilaus, p. 351 n.
Aricia, p. 399 n.
Aristophanes, p. 329 n.
Aristotle, p. 347 n.
Arretium, I. 130
Assos, p. 374 n.
Athens, p. 352 n.
Attis, I. 105
Attius, I. 50
Auster, VI. 12
Bacchus, p. 324 n.
Balance, p. 373 n.
Bassarid, I. 101
Bassus, VI. 1, p. 392 n.
Bathyllus, V. 123
Baucis, IV. 21
Berecynthius Attis, I. 93
Bestius, VI. 37, p. 390 n.
Bidental, p. 336 n.
Bovillae, VI. 55, p. 399 n.
Brisaeus, p. 324 n.
Bruttium, VI. 27
Brutus, V. 85
Caesar, VI. 43, p. 338 a.
Cffisonia, VI. 47
Caligula, p. 397 n.
Callirhoe, I. 133
Canities, p. 319 n.
Carrhae, p. 338 n.
414
Cato, in. 45
Centurions, in. 77, V. 189
Ceres, v. 185
Chaerestratus, V. 162, p. 385 n.
Chrysippus, VI. 80, p. 374 n.
Cincinnatus, I. 73, p. 323 n.
Cleanthes, v. 64, p. 374 n.
Cor, p. 393 n.
Cornutus, V. 23, 37, p. 373 n.
Crassus, 11. 36, p. 338 n.
Craterus, in. 65
Cratinus, 1. 123, p. 329 n.
Crispinus, V. 126
Cures, iv. 26
Cybele, p. 389 n.
Cynic, 1. 133
Dama, v. 76, 79
Davus, V. 161, 163, p. 385 «.
Diana, p. 399 n.
Dinomache, iv. 20
Echo, I. 102
Ennius, VI. 10, p. 324 n., p. 393 n.
Ergenna, II. 26
Etruria, p. 336 n.
Eunuchus, p. 3S5 n.
Euphorbus, p. 393 n.
Eupolis, I. 124, p. 329 n.
Euripides, p. 324 n.
Falernian, in. 3
Fate, V. 48
Festuca, p. 377 n., p. 386 n.
Floralia, v. 178, p. 380 n.
Forum, p. 362 n.
Gaul, p. 338 n.
Germans, VI. 44
INDEX TO PERSIUS
Glyco, V. 9
Greece, p. 352 n.
Greeks, I. 127, V. 191
Helicon, V. 7, p. 369 n.
Hercules, n. 12, p. 334 n.
Herod, V. 180, p. 387 n.
Hippocrene, p. 310 n.
Hippolytus, p. 399 n.
Hippomanes, p. 133 n.
Homer, pp. 316, 368, 393 nn.
Horace, I. 116, pp. 324, 328, 348,
353, 380, 386, 396 nn.
Hypsipyle, I. 34
Iliad, I. 50
Ionian Sea, vi. 29
Isis, p. 388 n., p. 389 n.
I us naturae and " equity," p. 378 n.
Janus, I. 58, p. 322 n.
Jove, v. 114
Jupiter, II. 21, 22, 29, 40, 43,
V. 50, 137, 138, p. 373 n.
Juvenal, p. 328 n., p. 337 n.
Labeo, I. 4, p. 316 »., p. 320 n.
Licinus, II. 36, p. 338 n.
Lucilius, I. 114, p. 328 n.
Lucretius, p. 392 n., p. 399 n.
Luna, vi. 9
Lupus, I. 115
Macrinus,rn. 1
Maenad, i. 101, 105
Maeon, vi. 11
Maine, p. 378 n.
Manius, VI. 56, 60
Marathon, p. 349 n.
Marcus, v. 80, 81
Maris expers, p. 396 n.
Masurius Sabinus, p. 378 n.
Medes, in. 53
Melicerta, V. 103, p. 379 n.
Menander, p. 385 n.
Mercury, II. 44, vi. 62, p. 338 n.,
p. 380 n.
Messala, II. 72
Messalae, p. 341 n.
Messalinus, p. 341 n.
Middle Academy, p. 351 n.
Miscere, p. 381 n.
Mucius, I. 115
Muse, v. 21
Muses, p. 369 n.
Mycenae, v. 17
Natta, in. 31
Nereus, I. 94
Nerius, II. 14
Nero, p. 327 n.
Numa, II. 59
Orestes, in. 118
Ovid, p. 361 n.
Pacuvius, I. 77, p. 32 1 n.
Paganalia, p. 311 n.
Painted Portico, p. 349 n.
Palaemon, p. 379 n.
Palilia, I. 72, p. 322 n.
Parmenio, p. 385 n.
Pedius, I. 85, p. 325 n.
Pericles, IV. 3, p. 358 n.
Persians, p. 349 n.
Phaedria, p. 385 n.
Phalaris, p. 347 n.
Phocis, p. 359 n.
Phyllis, 1.34
noiKiX-q orda, p. 349 n.
Polydamas, I. 4, p. 316 n.
Primordia vocum, p. 392 n.
Procne, v. 8, p. 369 n.
Publius, V. 74, p. 376 w»
Pulfennius, V. 190
Pythagoras, VI. 11, p. 349 ».,
p. 383 w.
Quincunx, p. 384 n.
Quintus, p. 393 m.
Quirites, in. 106
Remus, I. 73
Rhine, vi. 47
Rome, I. 5, 8, and notes on pp. 323,
324, 340, 397
Romulus, I. 31, 87
Samos, p. 349 n.
Saturn, II. 59, v. 50
Servius Tullius, p. 376 n.
Sicily, in. 39
Socrates, p. 358 n.
Solon, in. 79
415
INDEX TO PERSIUS
Stalus, II. 19, 22, p. 336 n.
Stoic, p. 378 n.
Stoics, p. 349 n
Subura, V. 32
Tacitus, p. 341 n.
Tadius, VI. 66
Terence, p. 385 n.
Tereus, p. 369 n.
Tesserae, p. 348 n.
Thessaly, p. 359 n.
Thyestes, v. 8
Tiber, II. 15
Titos, p. 318 n.
Toga praetexta, p, 370 ».
Transvectio equitum, p. 346 n.
Twins, V. 49, p. 373 w.
Umbrians. ill. 74
Veientine, V. 147
Veivtidiu3, IV. 25
Venus, II. 70, p. 340 n., p.
Vertere, p. 382 n.
Vestals, II. 60
Vindicta, P. 376 n.
Virbius, VI. 56, p. 399 n
Virgil, I. 96, p.368n.
Zeno, p. 349 n., p. 374 ti,
348 n
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CICERO, DE RBPUBLICA anu DB LEGIBUS, Cfiatoa Kryes.
CICERO, IN I I ONI M PRO SCAURO, PR) I PONTEIO, PRO
MILONE.etc, N. H. Wall
CICERO, PRO SEXTIO IN VATINIUM, PRO CAELIO ;
PROVINCIIS CONSl LARIBUS, PRO I W BO, D M mb
CICERO, VERRINB '"RATIONS, L. H. G. Greenwood.
LUCAN, J. D. DufT.
OVID, FASTI, Sir J. O. Fr.^er.
It INY, NATURAL HISTORY, W. II. S. Jones and L. F. Newman
ST. AUGUSTINE, MINOR WORKS.
SENECA, MORAL ESSAYS, J. W. Bam*
SIDONIUS, LETTERS. E. V. Araold and \V. B. Anderson.
STATIUS, J. H. Mozley.
TACITUS, ANNALS, John Jackson.
VALERIUS FLACCUS, A. F. Scholfield.
VITRUVIUS, DE ARCHITECTURA, F. Granger.
DESCRIPTIVE PROSPECTUS ON APPLICATION
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